I need your mercy. Do you need mine? I’m ready to forgive.
We all need God’s mercy, but in my case, I don’t have any idea what for at the moment. I feel caught up for now, up to date. I know the mercy is always there—I have always been forgiven—but only when unbeautifulness (ugly) arises from within do I know that it’s time to have another of those particular conversations of soul and spirit, sometimes tasting again the vomit arising as consciousness recognizes a certain kind of eruption from the material and rebellious self: I knew better, and I still said/wrote/sent/did that.
A hard problem with prisoners is how to reduce their rate of getting sent back to prison after their release. Rates of recidivism, as it as called, range from 25-65%. But a study of 300 criminal offenders who volunteered to meet their victims face-to-face and ask for forgiveness found that only one of them was arrested again after his release.
In God’s generosity, love and mercy rehabilitate us for service, and do so without condemning persons or excusing sin. The transforming work is symbolized in a film, The Green Mile, about men convicted of capital crimes, sentenced to death, and awaiting execution. A friendship develops between one of the prison guards (played by Tom Hanks) and an enormous, black prisoner who turns out to be innocent (played by Michael Clarke Duncan). The guard was coughing and sneezing one day and chanced to walk very close to the cell of this prisoner, who suddenly grabbed hold of him, and with both arms held him against the bars of his cell, very close to his chest. Then the film showed a visualization of a warm, glowing, orange light in the prisoner’s chest, which was, as it were, inhaling black specks of disease into his own heart, where the specks vanished into nothing. To me, this symbolizes divine mercy absorbing evil and thereby destroying it.
What prisons do I get into? I had been turning over in my mind how my wife had hurt me. I came out from my room and saw her in the living room, bending over her knitting. I had a vision of divine mercy coming down from heaven to surround her like a great column of light or a silo or gentle funnel cloud of compassion. Then, as I contemplated in the kitchen the divine mercy that I had just seen embracing her, I thought that the same mercy must be available to me, too; and immediately I experienced what I had just seen surrounding her—and felt completely free.
Mercy is a phase of the outworking of divine love, and it is based upon understanding. The concept of mercy is associated with tenderness, pity, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. It implies a lesser punishment than justice alone would require. I generally speak of mercy or compassion as the divine attitude, and forgiving as the act or process which makes this attitude real in human relationships.
The practice of forgiveness would benefit from more clarity on what I regard as confusions. First, forgiveness frees ourselves from negative attitudes; the person who forgives lets go of the emotions of hurt, victimhood, and anger that can tear us up. But in addition to these genuine and important benefits, fully spiritual forgiveness is also a social act, facilitating the other’s rehabilitation. Mercy does not look the other way, or make excuses for wrongdoing. It does not retaliate and return evil for evil, but neither does it give nothing in return for evil. It makes a lavish dinner for a rebel who returns humbled and ready to participate as a family member. It offers an explanation to clarify wrongdoing. It gives teaching that redirects character growth in a person who has made a mistake. When social discipline is called for, it does good to the offender who grows from it and good to the community that is protected.
A second confusion is implicit in the idea of forgiving oneself. At its most superficial, forgiving oneself evades all responsibility for what one has done; extreme, self-centered individualism disintegrates the bonds essential in family and society. At its best, self-forgiveness does part of the work of self-rehabilitation, but assumes that nothing needs to be done to restore relationship with the person one has harmed. One may not be able to get in touch again with that person. Like love, forgiveness is relational, person-to-person if possible. Better than isolated self-forgiveness is receiving the reality of divine forgiveness, which may come though social interaction with other humans. That way strengthens the family of God in this *&%$@#! confused world.
Third, many people who recognize the harm caused by a judgmental attitude do not understand that there are some kinds of judgments that we need to make as responsible members of society. Judging souls is none of our business; but wise judgment recognizes the danger posed by some of the characters in society, and this is one of our responsibilities. Religious leaders have sometimes taken gross advantage of members of their flock.
Fourth, it helps to make a distinction between anger and righteous indignation. When someone hurts us, it is natural to get angry; but in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned against anger, whose expression can lead to murder. Anger is a material emotion; righteous indignation is a feeling of the soul. Anger threatens; righteous indignation urges, “Brother!” “Sister!” Anger is ready to retaliate; righteous indignation is ready to clarify wrongdoing and lead the way forward.
Divine mercy reveals the beauty of God’s transforming love.
Thank you for your mercy to me!
Want the 10:56 video or the audio file? I mention a couple examples of mercy from politicians.
Painting credit: Giovanni Battista Langetti (1635-1676) – The Good Samaritan Attending to the Wounded Traveller at the Inn – 771302 – National Trust
