Compassionate Mercy

One of the many unappreciated ways in which God exercises his compassionately mercy involves ever ubiquitous human suffering and adversity. “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all” (Psalm 34:18-19). But he likes to accomplish this “rescue” through us humans as his privileged instruments. And very often he will choose those who have been severely tested and survived, because they are usually the best equipped to help their besieged brethren. As a movement, Alcoholics Anonymous has found its greatest success in helping the addicted through the ministering of those who have struggles up the mountain of rehabilitation themselves; their empathy is almost miraculously therapeutic for other victims of addiction. That’s the real fruit of their labors. Those who most closely abide as branches in the divine vine are the ones who will be most fruitful in their heroic efforts.

The best drill sergeant is not the deskbound general but the soldier who has served in the front lines of battle. Paul shows how God marshals our difficult experiences to teach us how to comfort others who lie wounded:

[T]he God of all consolation….consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

There is an eschatological dimension of that altruistic consolation – the reward element promised by Jesus “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). That refers primarily to God’s merciful act of cleansing the compassionate and merciful person (“everything will be clean for you” – Luke 11:41, while increasing that person’s merits (eternal reward). But also, centuries of Christian tradition and experience as well as scripture have shown the reward to include even in this earthly life countless special blessings for the merciful and compassionate soul. “[I]f you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10-11).

No one can help the worn and anguished person more gently and sympathetically than one who remembers his or her own experience of pain or struggle. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge phrased it, “Pity is best taught by fellowship in woe.”¹ The greatest champions of freedom are those who spent years in dank and filthy cells, tortured daily while languishing near starvation. As prisoners of those who sneered at human freedom, they came to appreciate the freedom for which they yearned. When tormented by malevolent demons whose cruel plans for us include affliction or inducements to evil, a word of encouragement from another who has survived such adversities is like cool water to a parched desert straggler.

The mandate of Jesus is broad enough to encompass every possible trial and tribulation: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35). Spiritual “survivors’ are called to be agents of God in supporting those undergoing similar distress. Jean Jacques Rousseau may have overstated this point, but his observation smacks of truth: “We pity in others only those evils that we have ourselves experiences.”²

By such support a languishing soul can come to realize that its transitory trials and temptations are to be used as plantings toward a harvest with permanent reward and comfort. These experiences of life, more than tutors or book knowledge, enable us to convey to the broken-hearted the consolation and conviction of God’s love. Horace Mann, in his Lectures on Education, said, “To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.”³

It is not just the trial-tested who are called to encourage others; Jesus himself takes on that task also. The same Jesus who applied to himself Isaiah’s prophecy about coming to “bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners [of sin]” (Isaiah 61:1, as quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18) suffered affliction and temptation himself.

One outstanding function of the Lord’s compassionate mercy is his assistance in a special area among the many types of healing – that of the ever-growing problem of spiritual warfare. He is always ready to support us in our struggle against the fiendish plots of the enemy.

The Christian who has felt the iron rule of Satan knows how to escape. He runs to the Word of God and lays open his heart to Christ, knowing that “the Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) Jesus said, “[T]he ruler of this world…has now power over me” (john 14:30).

Jesus demonstrated his compassionate mercy in his personal prayer to suppress the attacks of the powers of hell: “Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your…faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). In teaching his disciples to be merciful as their heavenly Father is merciful in their mission of deliverance, Jesus added the mandate to extend that God-given freedom to others: “[W]hen once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32).

Coming close to temptation or trial from our arch-enemy can provide experience that prompts us to warn others about the draw of devilment and, in appropriate situations, to become instrumental in their deliverance: “[S]igns will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast our demons” (Mark 16:17). Even after his ascension into heaven, “the Lord worked with [the apostles] and confirmed the message by ….signs” (verse 20). He continues to support his people today with his mercy.

¹ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, quoted in 12,000 Religious Quotations, p. 330.

² Jean Jacques Rousseau, quoted in 12,000 Religious Quotations, p. 330.

³ Horace Mann, Lectures on Education, Lecture VI (1845), quoted in 12,000 Religious Quotations p.330.

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.