Mercy in the Dominican Tradition
Sr. Kathleen Flood
I was a little girl when I first heard about mercy. My mother would sing hymns to me as I was falling asleep. They were her lullabies. The words to one of them came back to me as I pondered mercy. “Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need: Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead” (Nathan, El. “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings.” Lyrics. Gospel Hymns No. 4. 1883.). These words describe what most of us learned mercy is—a form of forgiveness. Mercy implies more than forgiveness.
The biblical meaning of mercy is exceedingly rich and complex. The word mercy is rich in possibilities and promise. In the Hebrew Scriptures the word mercy is translated from three different Hebrew words. The first word is hesed, a covenant way of relationship. We find it expressed in the stories of Abraham and Sarah as well as the Exodus. In our Dominican tradition, we find hesed expressed in the relationship between Catherine of Siena and Raymond of Capua. Hesed is the quality expressed in our Sinsinawa Dominican Constitution when we say that “we believe at the heart of ministry is relationship” (p. 38, #20).
The second word is rahamim, the plural form of the word womb. God’s mercy is a nurturing womb. In Isaiah 43:18–19, God speaks of “doing a new thing.” God’s mercy gives birth to new promise even in the midst of the ruins. This nurturing place, God’s compassionate womb, brings to birth understanding; understanding nourishes belonging. When we ask for the “mercy of God and yours” at profession, we ask to be women who give birth to a holy and just community as we participate in the building of a holy and just society.
The third word is hanan, which means grace and loving kindness. This word implies that mercy is a free gift from our God who is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4). In his book, Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes about vocation. One of his descriptions of vocation reveals an important dimension of the word hanan. I have replaced the word vocation with mercy.
Today I understand [mercy] quite differently—not as a goal to be achieved but as a gift to be received. Discovering [mercy] does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of the true self I already possess. [Mercy] does not come from a voice “out there” calling me to be something I am not. It comes from “in here” calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God. (p. 10)
Mercy then is community that nurtures us to be our true selves reflected in God. In our Dominican rite of profession we request mercy from God and the Congregation. By our profession we receive the mercy of God and the Congregation.
Sister Kathleen Flood, OP