The Fifth Beatitude: What is mercy?
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
The last Beatitude taught us to have hunger, an unceasing
desire, for higher things. In the Beatitudes, Jesus is teaching us how to climb
a Divine ladder that leads us to blessedness, or Theosis. In this Beatitude we
are called to become merciful.
What is mercy?
Gregory says,
The obvious meaning of
the words calls men to mutual charity and sympathy, which are demanded by the
capricious inequality of the circumstances of life; for all live not in the
same conditions, neither as regards reputation nor physical constitution nor
other assets. Life is in many ways divided up into opposites, since it may be
spent as slave or as master, in riches or poverty, in fame or dishonor, in
bodily infirmity or in good health–in all such things there is division. Therefore
the creature in need should be made equal to the one who has a larger share,
and that which goes short should be filled by what has abundance; this is the
law mercy gives men in regard to the needy…
Mercy is a voluntary
sorrow that joins itself to the sufferings of others.
We all have differing issues in life. Some of us are rich
and some are poor. Some live in highly industrialized nations and others in
rural underdeveloped nations. Some have very good health while other suffer
from painful maladies. Mercy, Gregory is pointing out, has to do with placing
ourselves in an equal situation with those who do not enjoy the same benefits
of life that we do. This is why he says it's a “voluntary sorrow.”
We all would like to share in the good fortune of others
but not generally in their misfortune. Mercy involves intensified charity where
we choose to also share in the misfortunes of others. This is the height of
virtue.
Think of the kind of world it would be if all developed
this virtue. Gregory says,
Envy would be futile, hate would die out, remembrance of
injuries would be banished along with lies, fraud, and war, all of which are
the off spring of covetousness. If that hard and unfeeling attitude were
removed, the evil growths would be weeded out with it completely, as with the
root of wickedness. And with the departure of evils there would enter instead
the whole array of good things, peace and justice with all their train of
virtues… Therefore mercy, as the definition has shown, is the parent of
kindness, and the pledge of charity; it is the bond of all loving disposition…
There is another meaning here as Jesus says, for they
shall obtain mercy. This implies that those who are merciful will have their
reward later. Gregory says this shows us a higher doctrine. Mercy is a course
we must choose with faith.
He who made man in His
own image endowed the nature of His handiwork with the principles of all
goodness. Hence nothing good enters into us from outside, but it lies with us
to have what we will, and to bring forth the good from our nature as if from
some inner chamber. For from the parts we are taught about the whole, that
there is no other way of obtaining one's desire except by procuring the good
for oneself. Therefore the Lord says to His hearers: “The Kingdom of God is
within you” (Luke 17:21); and, Everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks
finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened. (Matt 7:8) So it depends on
us and is in the power of our free will to receive what we desire, to find what
we seek, and to enter where we wish to be.
Gregory laments on this teaching:
How is it possible that
with this in mind we should spend our pity on the misfortunes of others? Should
the soul not rather be disposed to have pity on itself if it thinks of what it
once possessed, and from what state it has fallen?
His answer is as follows:
it is blessed to be
concerned with one's physical health. For if a man is concerned about this, he
will live in good health. Thus also is the merciful called blessed, because the
fruit of mercy becomes itself the possession of the merciful;
We need to ask, when the
time of judgment comes what will happen to us. Will we feel acclamation by the
God of all creation?
Gregory concludes:
Therefore, brethren, let
us heed the voice of the Lord, who in a few words teaches us so many things
about the future life. Let us become merciful, so that through mercy we may
become blessed, in Christ Jesus Our Lord to whom be glory and power for ever and
ever.
Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2009/09/5th-beatitude-blessed-are-merciful.html
