Word of the Week

Week of April 15, 2007

Mercy (Hb.): Hesed: “A profound sense of goodness; a blood bond of love”; Rahimim: “The love of a mother”; behind these terms conveys solidity and fidelity in God’s covenant love, a manifestation of God’s grace more powerful than betrayal. 

Mercy is the loving kindness, compassion, or forbearance shown to one who offends. The height of God’s mercy comes to us in the Church through the sacrament of Penance. In this sacrament we are restored in our relationship with Christ to live in his life and love, which is the perfection of the heart of mercy (CCC 1422; 1829).

Mercy is found numerous times in Scripture with several Hebrew words used to describe its profound meaning. When in the Old Testament the word hesed is used of the Lord, this always occurs in connection with the covenant that God established with Israel. This covenant was, on God's part, a gift and a grace for Israel. Nevertheless, since, in harmony with the covenant entered into, God had made a commitment to respect it (c.f. Ex. 34.6; 2 Sm. 2.6; 15.20; Ps. 25.10; 40.11-12; Mi. 7.20). The fruits of this love are forgiveness and restoration to grace, the reestablishment of the interior covenant. The second word which in the terminology of the OT serves to define mercy is rahamim (cf. Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Rich in Mercy: Dives in Misericordia, 52, 60, 61).

While hesed highlights the marks of fidelity to self and of responsibility for one's own love, rahamim, in its very root, denotes the love of a mother. From the deep and original bond, indeed the unity which links a mother to her child, there springs a particular relationship to the child, a particular love. Of this love one can say that it is completely gratuitous, not merited, and that in this aspect it constitutes an interior necessity ( Dives in Misericordia, 52, 60, 61). This love, faithful and invincible thanks to the mysterious power of motherhood, is what is expressed in the OT concept of rahimim (cf. Hos. 14:5).

With the aforementioned concepts of mercy in the OT we have the foundation for understanding Christ in the New Testament on the cross poured out as a libation of mercy for mankind ( Dives in Misericordia, 52, 60, 61). A libation that is necessary so that we might drink from the cup of mercy in the Eucharist becoming a new creation within holy mother Church (Gal. 5.15).

Mercy is the superabundance of the divine life of God working in and through the Church and the body of Christ. We are called to not only drink from the wellspring of mercy but also give it away exemplifying Christ on the cross. In this way we model Christianity and become stewards of mercy by seeking to nurture this paschal gift in constant prayer (1 Thes.5.17).

“By your mercy we were created. And by your mercy we were created anew in your Son’s blood. It is your mercy that preserves us.”

--Catherine of Siena

Primary texts consulted: (1) New Jerome Biblical Commentary; (2) St. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible; (3) Catechism of the Catholic Church; (4) Our Sunday’s Visitor of Catholic Doctrine; (5) Dives in Misericordia and (6) The Catholic Encyclopedia.

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