Catechism of the Catholic Church
§270 God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals His fatherly omnipotence by the way He takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that He gives us (“I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” [2 Cor 6:18]): finally, by His infinite mercy, for He displays His power at its apex by freely forgiving sins.
Where is divine omnipotence most manifested? in God’s justice, or in His mercy?
Images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus usually show Him as kind and compassionate, pointing to His wounded Heart and inviting the faithful to come closer. Often at His feet one reads a phrase dictated by Him to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, such as this:
“Behold the Heart that so loved men, to the point of exhausting and consuming itself in order to show them Its love.”
The first revelations of this remarkable devotion emerged in the distant year of 1199, in Belgium, with St. Lutgarde. The nun’s intimacy with the Divine Master led her to ask Him: “Lord, I want Your Heart.” To which Jesus replied: “I want yours.”
A few years later, in Italy, Margaret of Cortona became a confidante of the Redeemer, to whom she boldly implored: “Lord, I want to be within Your Heart!” St. Gertrude of Helfta is also among the witnesses of divine goodness, having rested her head on the sacred breast and listened to the beating of the patient and merciful Heart.
But not only mystics have been given to know these sublime mysteries. Theology also entered into the knowledge of the mercy of God made Man: St. Anselm of Canterbury, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Albert the Great, St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul and St. John Eudes were some of the illustrious cantors of these mysteries.
In St. Thomas Aquinas we find the simplest and most profound explanation of the subject, when the Angelic Doctor explains that “mercy and truth are necessarily found in all God’s works,”1 because He always aims to “communicate His perfection, which is His goodness.”2 The Most High wants to have a union of friendship with man, which consists in the free gift of the “fellowship of everlasting happiness.”3
If it was an act of mercy on God’s part to create man, He shows even greater benevolence in raising mankind to supernatural life, to that union of friendship with Himself.
This divine mercy is far more excellent than any human act aimed at helping one’s neighbour,4 and it also has an important repercussion among the acts of mortals.
In fact, far above any material service renedered – including even the corporal works of mercy, such as feeding the hungry or visiting the sick – is the spiritual help given to those who have fallen into mortal sin, so that they may regain divine friendship and become partakers of eternal glory. ◊
Notes
1 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ. I, q.21, a.4.
2 Idem, q.44, a.4.
3 Idem, II-II, q.24, a.2.
4 Cf. Idem, q.30, a.4.
