THE QUALITY OF DIVINE MERCY

Reflections on the Second Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy): Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

Antonio, a merchant from Venice, had taken a loan from Shylock, a money lender for his friend Bassanio to help him court Portia, a wealthy Belmont woman. Having failed to repay the money in time, Antonio now has to fulfil the terms of his weird contract with Shylock and give him a pound of his flesh. In the court in Venice, Portia, now disguised as a young male lawyer, pleads with Shylock for mercy in perhaps one of the most popular monologues ever written: ‘The quality of mercy’ (The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 164–396): “We do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy”. This Divine Mercy Sunday,  we reflect with Shakespeare on mercy’s three important qualities.

1. Mercy is not strained: 

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath”. The opening lines of Shakespeare’s monologue seem to be hugely inspired by Deuteronomy 32:2, “May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew, like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth”. Mercy, like the dew and rain, is absolutely, completely, and necessarily free/gratuitous. The Risen Jesus’ first words demonstrate this quality of mercy: “Peace be with you”. The context of this salutation is important. It has not been long since the disciples betrayed, denied, and abandoned their master. The torturous memory of their master’s violent death is still fresh and they are behind locked doors fearing the Jews. It is then that Jesus “comes and stands in their midst”. The situation is tense and awkward. What is he going to say/do? Not a word of reproach. No shaming, condemnation, or blame games. No talk about revenge or ‘payback time’. He does not incite them to revenge or vindication. Instead, the pierced and wounded hand of Jesus blesses them with the greeting of peace. God is merciful not because we deserve it but because we need it and so “while we still were sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Divine Mercy is indeed free but never cheap. It comes with a cost that Christ paid on the Cross. Now the cost we need to bear is our conversion, that the free experience of Divine Mercy inspires, not as a prerequisite for mercy but as its happy consequence.

2. Mercy is the mightiest: 

Portia continues, “Tis mightiest in the mightiest: It is above this sceptred sway. It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; It is an attribute to God Himself”. A king commands obedience by fear. He demands his subjects’ obedience through his rod of authority. On the contrary, Christ, the Risen King rules with trust inspired by his mercy. In his messages to Faustina, the apostle of the Divine Mercy, Jesus invites Faustina to overcome fear and trust in him. Forty-eight times in Faustina’s Diary, Jesus tells her not to be afraid. On February 22, 1931, Faustina writes, “In silence, I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while, Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You”. Throughout the Diary, Jesus promises that “he is close to those who honour His mercy (1075); spread His mercy (1224); proclaim His mercy (378); place their trust in His mercy (1520); and encourage others to trust in His mercy (1540). Divine Mercy challenges Thomas to overcome fear and hesitations to embrace the virtue of trust. Jesus tells him, “Do not be unbelieving, but believe”. Inspired to trust, Thomas replies with the most beautiful confession of faith in the Gospels, “My Lord and my God”. Trusting in God means to see light in moments of darkness, resurrect life in the face of death, and radiating joy in the most gloomy days. Trust empowers us to victory. John reflects this truth in the second reading, “And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

3. Mercy seasons justice: 

Shakespeare writes, “Though justice be thy plea, consider this: that in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation”. One of the probing questions that has puzzled humanity for a long time is how we reconcile justice and mercy. Are they compatible? If God is merciful, can he be just? Or if he is just, how could he be merciful? Psalm 116:5 insists, ‘The Lord is merciful and just’. Divine Mercy is not only compatible with justice but is its criterion. Justice, in human logic, is founded on proportionality and impartiality: ‘give him what he deserves’. God’s justice is not proportional (not seven times, but seventy times seven -Matthew 18:22). He “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45) and He sides with the poor, the mourning, and the persecuted (Matthew 5:3,4,10). The first reading reflects this logic of justice when it is ensured that “there was no needy person among them”. Aquinas argues, “Mercy does not destroy justice, but in a sense is the fullness thereof. Thus it is said, “Mercy exalts itself above judgment” (James 2:13) (Summa Theologiae I:21:3) Since mercy is an attribute of God, He needs to be merciful to be just. God’s justice does not mean the wicked suffer and the righteous flourish. His justice is redemptive and wishes that all creation be saved. Our experience of mercy invites us to practice mercy. (Jean Paul II, Dives in misericordia, no14). May this Sunday of the Divine Mercy inspire us to experience and practice mercy which is gratuitous, inspires trust, and seasons our logic of justice.