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Views from the Choir Loft

A Triptych on Mercy • Reflection III

Fr. David Friel · November 20, 2016

ODAY brings an end to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which began last December on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Announced by the bull of Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, this jubilee has provided the Church with an opportunity to reflect deeply on the richness, power, and incomprehensibility of God’s mercy.

Today also concludes this Triptych on Mercy, a threefold reflection on mercy that I began two Sundays ago (see Part I and Part II).

We have already considered “The Meaning of Mercy” and “The Need for Mercy.” This final reflection takes as its theme “The Beauty of Mercy.”

There are leaders in our world today who talk a great deal about mercy. In some cases, though, it would appear that these leaders do not know what mercy really is. In speaking about mercy, they give the impression that sin really isn’t so bad or really doesn’t matter. They give the impression that mercy does away with the distinctions between right & wrong, good & evil.

That is not mercy.

Mercy does not dismiss sin; it does not minimize sin; it does not overlook sin. Rather, true mercy assumes sin. That is to say, the experience of true mercy is always in response to sin, to the brokenness of our fallen world. This becomes especially clear when one considers that it is a work of mercy to “admonish the sinner.”

Mercy is not a stance of passivity or indifference to the nature of sin; it is, rather, a profound sensitivity to the damage sin does. Mercy assumes sin and desires to do something concrete to heal it. Mercy is the visible form of love for sinners.

This is “the beauty of mercy.” To say that sin does not matter is too easy. It’s flimsy, and there is no beauty to it. But real mercy, which takes sin as a starting point, is deeply beautiful precisely because it wrestles with the darkness and dirtiness of sin.

Consider these words from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “God proves His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). There is great richness and beauty in these words. The Lord does not wait for all the messiness of sin to get cleaned up before He comes to save us. The Lord doesn’t pretend that sin doesn’t exist in order to save us. Rather, the Lord steps right into the middle of our mess, and it is there that He brings us His mercy.

If anything should be clear to us from reading the Gospels, it is this: Christ is not indifferent to sin. Think about the story of the adulterous woman, who is about to be stoned to death by the religious authorities who caught her in the act. The Lord comes along and intervenes, famously challenging the crowd to let the one who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. This is a masterful approach, as Jesus appeals to the virtue of justice in order to set Himself up for an act of great mercy toward the woman being condemned.

The Lord looks at everyone in the scene and sees sinners. He acknowledges that everyone wielding a stone is a sinner. He also acknowledges that the woman, herself, is a sinner. Only after this acknowledgment of sin does the Lord turn the tables toward mercy.

He lets the woman walk away unharmed, challenging her to go and sin no more. In perhaps an even greater act of mercy, Jesus lets the religious authorities in the crowd drop their stones and walk away. This is true mercy, and it is beautiful.

The scene would be so much less beautiful, so much less compelling, if Jesus had walked up to the crowd and said, “Don’t worry about it. Everything’s cool. She didn’t really do anything that bad. You’re okay and I’m okay.” The beauty of mercy comes from confronting sin head on.

This understanding comes through clearly in a line that appears near the end of the Roman Canon. In this prayer, the priest says:

Admit us, we beseech you, into their company, not weighing our merits, but granting us Your pardon.

This line is a humble, earnest prayer for God’s mercy, asking to be brought at last to heaven. What this prayer asks is phenomenal. It asks that we be admitted to the company of the saints, not because of our merits—not because of how great we are or anything good we have done. It asks, rather, that we be admitted to heaven because of God’s goodness.

This is the beauty of Divine Mercy. The hesed of the Lord—His loving-kindness, His Divine Mercy—is not dependent on our goodness. Nor is it a reward for our good deeds. It is free; it is unearned; it is unconditional.

God’s mercy is deeply meaningful, critically necessary, and extravagantly beautiful.

Part 1 • The Meaning of Mercy

Part 2 • The Need for Mercy

Part 3 • The Beauty of Mercy

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Before any seminarian is accepted for ordination, he must not only strive for chastity but actually achieve it. He must already be living chaste celibacy peacefully and for a prolonged period of time—for if this be lacking, the seminarian and his formators cannot have the requisite confidence that he is called to the celibate life.”

— Archbishop Viganò (16 February 2019)

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