Mercy is Not Mercy if it is Not Undeserved

By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

As a confessor, I often get to encourage people who feel like they are estranged from God by sin and unworthiness, and it seems to them that the Lord does not need or want to listen to them. They can often have the feeling that God is not only ignoring them but rejecting or, at least, rebuking them. The best means of consoling these folks is to remind them of figures in the Gospels that faced the same kind of experience and how our Lord interacted with them.

We can take heart from figures like Bartimaeus, the blind beggar at the gates of Jericho, or the Canaanite woman in Sidon who were both told by the crowds, or even the disciples, to stop insisting because it was unseemly. The Canaanite woman did not deserve to be helped because, as the Lord explained, His mission was exclusively to the children of Israel. But He did not send her away as the disciples had asked Him to do. And when with great faith, persistence and humility she told the Lord that “even the dogs (foreigners) ate the scraps that fell from the master’s table”, He granted her request for her daughter praising her great faith! (Cf. Mt 5:27) Bartimaeus called out to the Lord and, after he called out even louder, Jesus called him over asking “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Mercy is not mercy if it is not undeserved! I once typed that convoluted phrase into a search engine to find parallels and the computer responded saying, “That phrase defines true mercy”. Mercy cannot be earned or merited. If a reward is deserved, it is justice or payment, not mercy. To give forgiveness, or help to someone who does not deserve it, is mercy. “God is rich in mercy”, St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:4.

But we have to ask for it! We have to insist, as Bartimaeus and the Canaanite woman insisted, with faith, humility and persistence. “Ask and you will receive; knock and it will be opened for you; seek and you will find”, Jesus explains in many parables. When telling the parable of the “wicked servant”, the master tells him, “I pardoned your entire (impossible to repay) debt because you asked me…” (Cf. Mt 18:21ff)

In conclusion, I repeat what I’ve explained many times, privately and publicly, that we must recall and reaffirm the true nature of who God is and how He acts towards us! God is love (cf. I Jn 4:8 & 16) and has a special and unique love for us all (called unconditional by some): that He has loved us first – so we are always responding to His initiative of love; He has loved us even to the Cross – because no greater love does a man have; and His love will never grow weary – rather it endures forever as the psalms tell us again and again! (Cf. Ps 118 & 136 et al.)

May our Lady of the Holy Rosary watch over you each and all!