#god'smercy

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Encouragement, Helping A Homeless Man

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Our God is a Merciful and Loving God

Note on the text: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul as published by Marian Press in 2019.

My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them, and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as a font overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the Tabernacle as King of Mercy (165). 

Throughout her diary Faustina continuously talks about just how powerful, and pervasive, God’s mercy is. He loves us tremendously and looks for any excuse he can find to treat us mercifully. At one point Faustina references the beginning of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (the part where God tells Abraham that he will spare the whole city for the sake of one holy man) as an example of just how much how strong God’s desire to be merciful is. He wants to shower us with love and mercy. No sinner is too far gone, no sin is too big to be forgiven: “Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach me, for even if it had more sins then there are grains of sand in the world, all would be drowned in the unmeasurable depths of my mercy” (399-400). 

Our God is a God of mercy. God knows that we are the fallible creatures that we are. He doesn’t expect perfection from us and is always there to shower us with love and  forgive our every fault. After all, as he himself says, he “did not allot only a certain number of pardons” (529). 

He is the King of Mercy. That is not only the title that he holds most dear, but he also says that mercy “is the greatest attribute of God” (139). This means that no one should be afraid to God despite how sinful they might be. This also means that those who serve and profess to love Him must also treat others with kindness and compassion. He prizes love and mercy so highly not only does he exhibit them himself, but he also insists that those who would follow him do the same. Saint Faustina recounts a story where she, instead of praying to God in her room, opts to take care of a sick nun. When she returned to her room she 

suddenly saw Jesus who said ‘My daughter, you gave me greater pleasure by rendering me that service than if you had prayed for a long time’. . . . ‘But it was not to you Jesus, but to that patient that I rendered this service’.  And the Lord answered [her saying]: ‘Yes My daughter, but whatever you do for your neighbor you do for me’ (391). 

So not only does God want to be loving and merciful to us himself, but he also wants us to show that same love and mercy to each other. 

Love is a wonderous, magnificent thing. How lucky are we that we have a God who loves us as much as he does? Despite all the evil that we have done he continues to love us, and will continue to do so until the end of time: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34). 

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But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

(Titus 3:4-7 ESV)

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And I know I'm weak, I know I'm unworthy to call upon Your name! But because of grace, because of Your mercy, I stand here unashamed.

Starfield, Unashamed

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"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)