Love and Mercy

His steadfast love endures forever . . . . His steadfast love endures forever . . . . His steadfast love endures forever.

These soothing words are just what my restless heart constantly needs to be reminded of. Love is another way to describe mercy. In a lot of ways, they are words that can be used interchangeably to convey the same message.

This is so fitting today as we celebrate the Holy Feast of Divine Mercy. We honor, revere, and celebrate the great loving mercy which flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The greatest attributes of Jesus are that of His unending love and fathomless mercy. When I hear the phrase "Divine Mercy," I am reminded how much I need Christ to show me how to live out and be mercy to others in my daily life. How do we learn to live and be mercy in our lives? By looking at the life of the One is Divine Mercy.

Jesus showed mercy to many different kinds of "outcasts" in the gospels, like the Samaritan woman at the well or the blind man Bartimaeus. Jesus was merciful even when it most difficult when He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus desires to lavishly cover us in His mercy as told to St. Faustina from her diary:

The flames of mercy are burning within me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them! Tell them my daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls. (1074-paragraphs 2 and 4).

Ah. So that is how we learn to live out mercy, by never ceasing to ask for it; by accepting all that Jesus has freely given and wants to continue to give us. Come before the Lord with open, accepting hands for all that He so lovingly wants to bestow on each of us.

Take some time today to pray from your heart "The Jesus Prayer": Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Soak in those words. Rest in the mercy of God and never tire asking Him for more.

Patty Hubbard is a new-ish wife finishing grad school, working in youth ministry, and learning to cook more than your average Lean Cuisine. You can find out more about her here.