At the Heart of God’s Heart
Sr. Anne Marie Mongoven
Some of our great poets have tried to describe “mercy” but attempts of even the greatest poets can miss their mark. When William Shakespeare wrote that “The quality of Mercy is not strain’d, it droppeth as the gentle rain upon the place beneath,” he reached for the sky, but even Shakespeare’s lofty words and enormous talent could not describe fully the “mercy of God.” No one can do so.
Yet the word, mercy, falls off our lips, lightly, as we pray, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy,” or when we pray on Friday mornings, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” In that same psalm we praise God’s mercy, proclaiming that it will “create a clean heart” and “put a right spirit within us.”
What is mercy? Some scholars say that mercy is the very essence of God. God is mercy just as God is love. God’s mercy touches us tenderly, lovingly, abundantly even though we are undeserving of it. For decades, centuries, even for millennia, the people of God have recognized and rejoiced in God’s mercy, knowing that mercy is not simply an act of God. It is not something God does. It is what God is. God is merciful.
As mercy, God is always breathing new life into us, embracing us affectionately, compassionately, with strength. As a mother loves the child of her womb and holds that child close to her heart lest the child stumble, so Mercy-God loves us and leans over to protect us if there is ever a danger we might fall or fail. And when we fall our Mercy-God forgives, heals, and restores us before we know enough to say, “We are sorry.”
I once knew a psalm with the refrain, “And God’s mercy endures forever.” I went looking for it in the recent New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and I found the refrain translated as “for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps. 136).
But Scripture scholars tell us that God’s mercy differs in some ways from God’s love. The Hebrew word for steadfast love is hesed. Hesed is ordinarily translated as “love” or “grace.” Hesed describes God sharing divine life with us. To emphasize the covenantal or lasting nature of God’s love, the writers describe God’s love as “steadfast.” Hesed highlights the lover’s responsibility for the beloved. God’s love is everlasting, covenantal.
The Hebrew word for mercy is rahamim.1 This has a different nuance from hesed. Rahamin, in its root, rehem, means mother’s womb. It denotes the love of a mother for her child. The intimate bond that links a mother and her child reflects the oneness of shared life in the womb. A mother’s love for her child mirrors God’s mercy for us.
In relating God’s mercy to a mother’s love, we recognize mercy as gratuitous, unmerited, not dependent on mutual loving. It is pure gift, indestructible, unselfish, permanent. By choosing rahamim as their word for mercy, the Hebrews told one another and us that, like a mother’s love, God’s mercy is freely given to all of us, always. It is freely given, and it is redemptive. Rahamin forgives all that needs to be forgiven.
We do not deserve God’s mercy. God’s mercy does not reflect our worthiness; it reflects God’s graciousness. It emerges from the deep, creative, and original bond that links us to God. Mercy is the rhythmic movement of God’s heart, continually embracing us with the passion of maternal love.
Sister Anne Marie Mongoven, OP (Thomas à Becket)
Endnotes
1 Pope John Paul II, Rich in Mercy, Encyclical Letter. No. 52 (November 30, 1980). www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30111980_dives-in-misericordia_en.html.