THY 4 • Mercy as contemplated is said to be a

virtue influencing one's will to have

Harmony with God: Called to
compassion for, and, if possible, to
Communion A. Spirituality of Mercy
alleviate another's misfortune.
• It is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas
that although mercy is as it were the
How should we understand mercy?
spontaneous product of charity, yet it is to
• In Hebrew and Biblical language, the seat be reckoned a special virtue adequately
of emotion is not only the heart but the distinguishable from this latter. In fact the
viscera, in Hebrew the rachamim, which Scholastics in cataloguing it consider it to
in the Bible means misericordia/mercy. be referable to the quality of justice
This term rachamim is related to the mainly because, like justice, it controls
noun rechem, which is the womb. relations between distinct persons.
• Mercy expresses therefore a typical
feminine and motherly relation of love
and tenderness, which gives the sense of • The spirituality of mercy lives both the
security and warmth. To talk of God’s corporal and spiritual actions of mercy.
mercy means therefore that God is like a • These are actions that bring God’s mercy
mother, who takes care of her children, to our neighbor especially the poor and
who loves them, never can forget them, the oppressed, all those who are
suffers with them when they are suffering suffering.
and whose house and table is always
open for them (Sal 27,10).
THE WORKS OF MERCY
Corporal Spiritual
Feed the Hungry Instruct the Ignorant
• Mercy indicates in the direction of Give drink to the Counsel the Doubtful
gratitude for an unmerited gift and thirsty
unmerited grace, in the Hebrew language Shelter the Homeless Admonish the Sinners
hesed, which in the Bible also can be Clothed the Naked Forgive offenses
used for what in English means mercy. Visit the Sick Comfort the afflicted
Visit the Imprisoned Bear wrongs patiently
Bury the Dead Pray for the living and the
• In the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the dead
Mount he called happy the gentle, the
merciful, the peacemakers, not the
• As followers of Christ mercy is indeed
persecutors but those who are persecuted
our vocation.
(Matt 5,1-11).
• It therefore includes the natural world and
MERCY IS ALSO LOVING OUR is not merely extended to it but embraces
ENEMIES EVEN IF THEY PERSECUTE God’s creation—the environment and
US non-human creatures.
Spirituality of Mercy: Addressing the and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the
Throw-Away Culture last drop. Then, goodbye.

• Evangelium Gaudium (EG no.53)

- Fellow Human beings
Indicators of Throw-away Culture
• Laudato Si (LS 123)
- Fellow human beings especially the Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation
poor Evangelii Gaudium (2013), in his Encyclical
• LA no.21 and 22 Laudato Si’ (2015), and in his Post-Synodal
- With nature/environment/our planet Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family
Amoris Laetitia: (2016) describe the prevailing
culture that destroys life of both the present
Crisis of “Throw-away Culture” and future generations:
(Hedonism) a. wasting of our resources fueled by
consumerism and the market economy,
What is the crisis of “throw-away culture”
b. the practice of contraception and
and its Hedonistic tendencies?
abortion, abandonment of the elderly
Spirituality of Mercy: Addressing the and the handicapped,
Throw-Away Culture c. exclusion of the poor, exploitation of
the weak, and
- Human beings are themselves considered d. discarding of genuine relationships, of
consumer goods to be used and then married love and marriage vows.
discarded. We have created a “throw
away” culture which is now spreading. It
is no longer simply about exploitation How does the ‘spirituality of mercy’ serve as
and oppression, but something new. . antidote to the double degradation brought
.The excluded are not the “exploited” about by the throw-away culture?
but the outcast, the “leftovers”.(EG53)
As followers of Christ mercy is indeed our
vocation.
• Narcissism makes people incapable of Correspondingly, the spirituality of mercy
looking beyond themselves, beyond that is truly faithful to God’s call is holistic:
their own desires and needs....adults
who seek a kind of “independence” and • Integral – everything is connected
reject the ideal of growing old together,
It therefore includes the natural world and is
looking ager and supporting one another.
not merely extended to it but embraces
God’s creation—the environment and non-
human creatures.
• We treat affective relationships the way
we treat material objects and the This spirituality is integral, holistic and
environment: everything is disposable; harmonious, for it recognizes its kinship
everyone uses and throws away, takes with the rest of God’s creatures, the rest of
God’s creation.
 Sawa vs. Awa people; they are our brothers and sisters
who, with us, are called to build a “city
Throw-Away Culture of Mercy
which is reliable”.
Culture (Sawa) (Awa)
Objectification Contemplation The social character of mercy demands that
Consumption Compassion we not simply stand by and do nothing. It
Maximization Care requires us to banish indifference and
Disposal Communion hypocrisy

Living “The Primacy of Mercy” (MV 17,

MetM 1) • Pope John XXIII, at the opening of the
Second Vatican Council said that the
a. “Culture of care” as antidote to the church must use the medicine of mercy.
double degradation brought about by The Church must therefore “proclaim the
the throwaway culture (EG 193, LS mercy of God, provide people with God’s
231, AL 191) mercy and must allow God’s mercy to
• Laudato Si’ mentioned the word “care” 35 appear and be realized in its entire life.
times, while “stewardship” only twice. The
subtitle of Laudato Si is in fact on “care for
our common home”. From “stewardship” What is the Spirituality of Mercy?
we notice a shift to “care”. Hence, there is
• A spirituality of mercy is a Spirit-filled
a shift from duty-based ethics to a virtue
movement of the heart “to be merciful
based ethics of “care.”
just as God our Heavenly Father is
merciful” (Lk 6:36). This spirituality
arises from our own experience of God’s
“To hear both the cry of the earth and the mercy.
cry of the poor” (LS 49). • The spirituality of mercy lives both the
We can truly hear them and attend to them if corporal and spiritual actions of mercy.
we have Mercy • It becomes a deep spiritual experience
when forgiveness and reconciliation are
• A spirituality of mercy is a Spirit-filled offered toward our enemies—those who
movement of the heart “to be merciful have wronged us, had caused us pain,
just as God our Heavenly Father is anguish, humiliation…misery.
merciful” (Lk 6:36). This spirituality • These are actions that bring God’s mercy
arises from our own experience of God’s to our neighbor especially the poor and
mercy. the oppressed, all those who are
suffering.

“Unleashing the creativity of mercy

(MetM 18-19)
Mercy impels us to roll up our sleeves and
set about restoring dignity to millions of