King David — and Pope Francis — teach us how to acquire “ wisdom in my secret heart .”
MERCIFUL LIKE THE FATHER
PSALMS
OF
MERCY
King David — and Pope Francis — teach us how to acquire “ wisdom in my secret heart .”
Dr . Peter Williamson
When Pope Francis sets out to explain
God ’ s mercy from the Bible in his 2015 bull Misericordiae Vultus ( The Face of Mercy ), he begins with the Psalms : “ In a special way the Psalms bring to the fore the grandeur of his merciful action .” The Holy Father proceeds to highlight a few aspects of God ’ s mercy as they are reflected in the Psalms .
He begins with God ’ s merciful nature in Psalm 103 . The Old Testament often describes God as “ patient and merciful ,” or as the Revised Standard Version puts it , God is “ slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love ” ( Ps 103:8 ). Throughout the history of salvation , the Holy Father tells us , God makes “ his goodness prevails over punishment and destruction .” In the words of the psalmist , “ He forgives all your iniquity , he heals all your diseases , he redeems your life from the pit , he crowns you with steadfast love and mercy ” ( Ps 103:3-4 ).
Next , Pope Francis points out that the expression of God ’ s mercy in the lives of human beings is very concrete : “ He executes justice for the oppressed ; he gives food to the hungry . The Lord sets the prisoners free ; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind . The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down . . . . The Lord watches over the sojourners , he upholds the widow and the fatherless ; but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin ” ( Ps 146:7-9 ). The concrete ways God shows mercy can guide our practice of mercy , as well .
Mercy Is Masculine and Feminine
The pope probes the motives that impel God ’ s mercy forward : God “ reveals his love as of that of a father or a mother , moved to the very depths out of love for their child . It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this is a visceral love . It gushes forth from the depths naturally , full of tenderness and compassion , indulgence and mercy .” Here the Holy Father draws upon the teaching of St . John Paul II in Dives in Misericordia ( Rich in Mercy ) where he explains the Bible ’ s rich vocabulary of mercy .
Two Hebrew words commonly translated as “ mercy ” are hesed and rahamim . Pope John Paul explains : While hesed highlights the marks of fidelity to self and of ‘ responsibility for one ’ s own love ’ ( which are in a certain sense masculine characteristics ), rahamim , in its very root , denotes the love of a mother ( rehem = mother ’ s womb ). From the deep and original bond — indeed the unity — that links a mother to her child there springs . . . a particular love . . .
“ The words translated ‘ sin ’ from both Hebrew and Greek are drawn from the vocabulary of archery , where they mean to ‘ miss the target .’”
that it is completely gratuitous , not merited , and that . . . constitutes an interior necessity : an exigency of the heart . It is , as it were , a ‘ feminine ’ variation of the masculine fidelity to self , expressed by hesed . . . . Rahamim [ expresses ] a whole range of feelings , including goodness and tenderness , patience and understanding , that is , readiness to forgive .
The Old Testament often uses rahamim to speak of God ( e . g ., Deut 30:3 ; Is 14:1 ; 30:18 ). The Vulgate uses the expression viscera misericordiae to translate the emotional depth of this visceral mercy .
“ His Mercy Endures Forever ”
Returning to Misericordiae Vultus , Pope Francis turns next to Psalm 146 , which repeats the refrain , “ For his mercy endures forever ,” in every verse . This phrase teaches the absolute constancy of God ’ s mercy through all of human history and into eternity .
The psalm begins with God ’ s mercy manifest first in creation , then in the deliverance from Egypt , and finally in bestowing on Israel the land of Canaan . Jewish tradition refers to this psalm as the “ Great Hallel ,” and it is likely that this is the hymn that Jesus sang with his disciples at the conclusion of his final Passover meal ( Mt 26:30 ).
The pope writes , “ While he was instituting the Eucharist as an everlasting memorial of himself and his paschal sacrifice , he symbolically placed this supreme act of revelation in the light of his mercy . Within the very same context of mercy , Jesus entered upon his
6 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2016