On Mercy and What it Requires!

Pope Francis talks a lot about mercy and, in fact, we will soon begin the year of Mercy. So what exactly is the Mercy of God? And what does it require of us?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about "cheap grace," the grace we bestow on ourselves, grace without the cross and without Jesus Christ. I think we might also talk about "cheap mercy."

In the wee hours at adoration this morning I was reading the first essay in Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family. (You know, the book hijacked by Fr. Lombardi and co.) Cardinal Carlo Caffarra addressed Mercy and Conversion. The cardinal began by saying, "These reflections focus on the act in which God's mercy shines forth in its preeminent form: the forgiveness of a sinner."

Quote of the Day - But it's not about cheap forgiveness!

"God's greatest pleasure is to pardon us. The good Lord is more eager to pardon a repentant sinner than a mother to rescue her child from the fire." -- St. Therese of Lisieux

Underline the word "repentant." Even God can't forgive the soul who rejects his mercy.

Jesus paid for our sins with every drop of His precious blood. Those who preach universal salvation and God as the Sugar Daddy in the sky waiting to welcome us to Candyland paint a false picture of Divine Justice. Jesus is on the cross with arms outstretched to welcome every repentant sinner. He does not rejoice in our destruction. In fact those who are lost must wrench themselves away from His loving embrace.

When was the last time you went to Confession? We are weak and sick from sin. Only by running often to the Divine Physician can we hope to survive in this corrupt age.