St. Thomas Aquinas argues that it is even more merciful for God to ask for reparation for sin than if He had just decided to "let bygones be bygones."
St. Augustine tells us in his Enchidrion that God's mercy is expressed especially in the practice of penance.
Although the message of Divine Mercy is prominent in the teachings of Jesus, and expressed through His works of healing throughout His Galilean ministry, the gospel writers emphasize that it is the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus, above all, that is the most decisive breakthrough of God's merciful love in this fallen world.
The third thing that makes St. Luke's gospel the gospel of mercy in a special way is its emphasis on the universal scope of Divine Mercy: God intends to embrace all people with His mercy, through Jesus Christ.
If our definition of Divine Mercy is accurate, then it has to fit not only with the meaning of the Biblical terms for mercy, such as "hesed," "rachamim," and "eleos," but also with the whole story of God's dealings with His chosen people Israel, and with all that He has revealed to us through Jesus Christ. As the Catholic biblical scholar John L. Mackenzie claimed: "the entire history of the dealings of Yahweh with Israel can be summed up as 'hesed'."
Divine Mercy is an attribute of God
Mercy presents us with a semantic problem. After all, the word mercy in contemporary English has a very restricted meaning. It is usually used to refer to an act of pardon, as in "Let me off, judge; have mercy" or "He threw himself on the mercy of the court." In the Catholic tradition of theology, however, mercy means far more than just the cancellation of punishment. Far more then that.
Do you remain vigilent in rejecting the lies of Satan?
The doctrines on hell and God's unfathomably mercy are perfectly compatible. Let's see why.
Find out why you don't need to hide from God.
