(Editor's Note: This article was submitted to the Touchstone- the official student publication of the St. Francis Xavier College Seminary. It was later published in a simplified form. We publish the original script used by the author. Enjoy!)
As defined by the Angelic Doctor,
St Thomas Aquinas, mercy in the human
perspective is the compassion we have for another’s distress, driving us to do
anything to help the other (Summa Theologiae,
II-II.30.1). We are inclined to feel compassion for others because we can
connect with their pain: we are just frail creatures who cannot do much. On the
other hand, mercy in God’s perspective
is his compassion for our frailty that drives Him to do everything- going
beyond sin and punishment- so that he can pour out his abundant love on us. In
this sense, mercy can be considered another name for love, and even of God
himself. This reflection will speak of these two facets in the light of Church teaching
and the experiences of some seminarians, while at the same time challenging us
to enter into these realities using three different contexts of the word
“mercy” found in our Filipino culture.
Mercy: God’s Gift for Broken Humanity
“A seminarian arrived late from his day-off. Knowing that this was his
first time to be late, he felt scared and worried; their evaluation day was
fast approaching and he could be questioned about this. Emotions got the better
of him, until he was called by a formator to his office. The formator asked him
to sit down, explain why he had been late- and on seeing the worry-stricken
face of the seminarian, consoled him and told him not to do it again. The
seminarian went away comforted, and was inspired not to violate the Rule
because of the compassion of his formator.”
We cannot speak of mercy without
pointing out to our human condition: from the moment our first parents erred to
the present moment, sin has entered and dominated our lives, leading us into
poverty, bloodshed and division. Seeing everything go terribly wrong, man has turned
to God, asking for mercy and love to rain from his abode. As a response, the Father
of mercies repeatedly made covenants with them, showering them with a mercy
that “prevails over the sin and
infidelity of his chosen people” (St. John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 4).
Not limiting himself to
intervening in our history, he sent us in the fullness of time, his Son, Jesus
Christ, the “face of the Father’s mercy”
(Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus,
1). Jesus proclaimed a “time of favor”
and made it manifest in his life and ministry. “Making the Father present as love and mercy is the fundamental
touchstone of his mission as the Messiah” (DM, 3). But his greatest act of mercy towards us was to show us His
love by offering his Son as a redeeming sacrifice. During his Passion, Jesus
became the “Door of Mercy” which opened for the whole world: his wounded body became
our way to the Father, his Blood becoming an ocean of mercy which forgives a
multitude of sins. And as an everlasting memorial of this redemptive act, Jesus
gave his Church the Sacraments of Mercy- Eucharist and Penance- for us to
experience that mercy which “overcomes everything, filling the heart with love
and bringing consolation through pardon” (MV, 9).
Our approach to this tremendous
gift of mercy consists in the first context of mercy in our Filipino culture termed
as awa, kalooy or compassion. We must
ask for the Father’s mercy to pour down upon us, and receive His infinite love
for us revealed in Jesus Christ. We must then let it define our own lives; to
heal the wounds caused by sin and evil, to reawaken us to new life and to instill
in us the courage to look at the future with hope (MV, 10). “So let us confidently approach the throne of
grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help” (Heb 4:16).
The Church: Sent to be Merciful
like the Father
“A group of seminarians and their friends decided to have a Christmas outing;
it never materialized despite their well-organized plans. Instead, they decided
to forego it and visit a nearby Home for the Aged; at first out of pure
curiosity, but later on simply to thank God for the year’s blessings by helping
the elderly. And it so happened that when their funds were pooled together, it
was insufficient; so one of them posted on Facebook asking for assistance for
their visit. And out of various places, money and goods poured into their hands
so that they were able to hold that party successfully. Later on, they
reflected that it was a good experience for them to be God’s instruments of
care for these people: out of the blessings they received, they gave towards those
who need love and support.”
Out of the flowing abundance of
God’s mercy, man realizes that his dignity rests in being loved by the merciful
Father; his vocation consists of becoming a vessel of mercy for others. The
Church, a people chosen by the Lord’s mercy (miserando atque eligendo), received the fullness of grace from the
Paschal Mystery and continues the mission of her Lord in becoming a sign of
mercy for all.
In order to let the gift of mercy
grow and flourish, she asks her children to first receive the Sacraments,
especially of Penance and the Eucharist, so that they may conform themselves to
the Merciful Jesus. Second, she invites them to become merciful themselves,
especially in performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy- those
time-honored exercises she teaches us to become “merciful like the Father” (Lk 6:36).
On this year 2016, the Church
offers us a special “time of favor” called the “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” to ponder and reflect on the
wonderful mystery of God’s mercy. The various initiatives offered by the Church
during this year invite us to open ourselves to God’s mercy, to extend mercy to
others- not by discriminating or shunning them, but by opening our arms towards
them and leading them to the Father “who
desires all men to be saved” (1 Tm 2:4).
As a means of responding to our
mission, we now arrive at our second definition of mercy, which is unawa, pagsabot or understanding. We
must know how important mercy -the “beating
heart of the Gospel” (MV, 12) - is in the life and mission of the Church,
and how it has animated all her endeavors over the centuries. We must understand
the necessity of taking up this joyful call to mercy (MV, 10) as a Church. We must understand our duty of breaking our
personal “comfort zones” and going into the “peripheries” where the message of
divine mercy has not yet penetrated.
The Seminary as a School of Mercy
A quote attributed to St. Francis
Xavier notes that “The world is full of
closed doors”. In the modern world, the concept of mercy is nearly
non-existent, sounding almost foreign to the ears of today’s men and women (DM,
15). From the very dawn of life, children are being killed in their mothers’
womb. The elderly are left to fend for themselves in a fast-paced and harsh
world. Many are dying from violence, hatred and neglect, away from the eyes of
the multitude who are just engrossed with materialism, egoistic behaviour and
pleasure-seeking. Even inside the Seminary, the spirit of mercy, a fundamental
characteristic of a Christian community, is slowly being forgotten. Bullying,
disrespect and intolerance is becoming more prevalent, especially in the way
some treat their fellows and the other members of the community.
The third dimension that we
Filipinos have of mercy is gawa, pagbuhat
or action. Mercy “can never be just
an abstraction” (MV, 9). Out of our reception and knowledge of mercy, we
must be challenged to live out what we have received: to give credibility to
what we are proclaiming and believing as Christian disciples, lest our
Christian life be considered as mere theatrics (gawa-gawa lamang). Mercy must lead our intentions, attitudes and
behaviors towards helping others, especially those who are distant from the
merciful care of the Father and of his Church.
For us seminarians, we must be
challenged to build a culture of mercy in our formative community: to rediscover
mercy by intense prayer and openness to God’s word, to make our seminary an
“oasis of mercy” (MV, 12) by practicing small acts of mercy inside and outside
the community, and to become “missionaries” of mercy by living out the values
of understanding, respect and dialogue with our brothers, our formators and
staff, and with everyone else.
May we, seminarians of today-
priests of Jesus Christ in the future- become instruments of God’s plentiful
mercy for a broken world. (NCSator- Seminarians' Musings)
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