Mercy-Appreciation

Did you know that human eyes have never seen the world’s second highest mountain? A few feet lower than Mount Everest, it’s twice as tall as the highest mountain in the continental United States. Discovered in 1953 by oceanographers sonar-mapping the Pacific Ocean floor, the pinnacle of this 28,500-foot mountain lies 1,200 feet below the ocean’s surface – rising from the ocean bottom in the Tonga Trench between New Zealand and Samoa.

Many splendid wonders of creation lie submerged, unrecognized and for the most part unappreciated. As they are discovered, they should make us marvel even more at their source. The stupendous scope of God’s merciful love creates, conserves and orchestrates the work of his hands. And far greater than all this, says Saint Thomas Aquinas, is his work of grace in any one human! 

To foster the appropriate wonderment at God’s providence, his word scintillates with superlative exclamations from the heart of the Creator “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). In their attempt to reciprocate this love, the great saints, whose mystical experiences have raised them to the dizzy heights of love-union with God, have learned to some degree how to become immersed in the ocean of his tenderness. They feebly strove – and fail – to articulate the experience of these encounters, amazed that they even survived them.

It was probably from such an encounter that Paul strove to express his steadfastness in clinging to the great gift of God’s merciful love: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). And he was granted a glimpse of mystical mountains of divine goodness awaiting us beyond this life: “[N]o eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

To know how lovely his love is, try immersing yourself in his mercy! You could start by “re-creating” the review of creation – his initial act of mercy, lifting creatures out of non-existence into existence. God stood back at each stage of his masterwork and “saw that it was good.” He rejoiced and reveled in the handiwork of his omnipotence. I like to imagine myself standing next to him, viewing the cosmic panorama, like a carpenter’s child holding his father’s gnarled hand while admiring his accomplishment: “You did a good job, Daddy!” I can almost hear the angel choirs providing the background hymn, “How Great Thou Art!”

This “cosmic contemplation” will lead you to an awareness of the indescribable joy of the Lord in providing for his creatures’ existence and care in every aspect: creation, redemption, forgiveness, healing – and more. It’s a joy to see God rejoice. “[A[s the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5). “I will rejoice…, and delight in my people” (Isaiah 65:19). “The Lord, your God, is in your midst…; he will rejoice over you with gladness he will renew you in his love; he will exult over youl” (Zephaniah 3:17).

As you continue your “mercy-appreciation” fantasy, watching God enjoy himself, you’ll even “make God smile!” And he invites you to come and “enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21). “I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves” (John 17:13). Maybe Voltaire, in spite of his humanism understood this better than most Christians do: “God is a comedian,” he said, “paying to an audience too afraid to laugh.” 

There’s more than enough biblical material to support your meditation on the mercy-based joy of the Lord, such as Jeremiah 32:41, “I will rejoice in doing good to them.” His forgiving mercy provides a special joy for the Lord. Just recall his joy in each of the “mercy” parables of Luke 15. The man who finds the one lost sheep “lays it on his shoulder and rejoices” (verse 5). The woman who finds her coin calls her neighbors to “rejoice with me” (verse 9). The father lays a scrumptious feast for the returning Prodigal Son after ordering for him the best robe, ring and sandals (verse 22-24).

As you revel in the forgiveness that leaves your soul “spanking-clean,” you might say, “The pleasure is mine”; and God will respond, “No, the pleasure is mine!” For “he delights in showing clemency” (Micah 7-18), even more than he delights in the marvels of the universe that he drew from the void of nothingness.

To Saint Faustina he revealed, “I rejoice that [trusting souls] ask for much, because it is my desire to give much, very much.”  He stated that his forgiving mercy, when accepted by even the worst sinners, provides him with his greatest joy – far beyond the understanding that any human or even angelic mind could ever attain even through all eternity! The very cosmos isn’t large enough to encompass that divine bliss. What joy can compare with that? 

This excerpt is from the book The Awesome Mercy of God, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Books. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.