Nothing Can Change His Tender Mercies
If we could remember that the divine mercy is not a temporary mood but an attribute of God's eternal being, we would no longer fear that it will someday cease to be. Mercy never began to be, but from eternity was; so it will never cease to be. It will never be more since it is in itself infinite; and it will never be less because the infinite cannot suffer diminution. Nothing that has occurred or will occur in heaven or earth or hell can change the tender mercies of our God. Forever His mercy stands, a boundless, overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion.
As judgment is God's justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt. Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart, unknown to the created universe. No voice would be raised to celebrate the mercy of which none felt the need. It is human misery and sin that call forth the divine mercy.
"Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison!" the Church has pleaded through the centuries; but if I mistake not I hear in the voice of its pleading a note of sadness and despair. Its plaintive cry, so often repeated in that tone of resigned dejection, compels one to infer that it is praying for a boon it never actually expects to receive. It may go on dutifully to sing of the greatness of God and to recite the creed times beyond number, but its plea for mercy sounds like a forlorn hope and no more, as if mercy were a heavenly gift to be longed for but never really enjoyed.
Verse
For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, / and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."Romans 9:15
Thought
As judgment is God's justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt.
Prayer
How great You are, Father, and how great are Your mercies!
