Dives in Misericordia: “He Who Sees Me Sees the Father” (2, continued)

Chapter II of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Incarnation of Mercy.” It continues as follows:

“2. . . . In the present encyclical wish to accept this appeal; I wish to draw from the eternal and at the same time-for its simplicity and depth- incomparable language of revelation and faith, in order through this same language to express once more before God and before humanity the major anxieties of our time.

“In fact, revelation and faith teach us not only to meditate in the abstract upon the mystery of God as ‘Father of mercies,’ but also to have recourse to that mercy in the name of Christ and in union with Him. Did not Christ say that our Father, who ‘sees in secret,’¹⁷ is always waiting for us to have recourse to Him in every need and always waiting for us to study His mystery: the mystery of the Father and His love?¹⁸

“I therefore wish these considerations to bring this mystery closer to everyone. At the same time I wish them to be a heartfelt appeal by the Church to mercy, which humanity and the modern world need so much. And they need mercy even though they often do not realize it.”

17. Matthew 6:4, 6, 18.
18. Cf. Ephesians 3:18; also Luke 11:5-13.

 

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Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”