Mercy

I wish to suggest in this short paper that forgetfulness and Mercy have an integral link which more desperately today than ever must be understood and placed before our human community. That link is the core truth that healing is not controlled by the machinations of rational thought or the rote formulae of social medicines. The soothing oil that heals, literally the Greek translation of “mercy,” is found the paradoxical power of the unexpected through the re-entry of compassionate and sacrificial love in human relationships when it is neither deserved nor required, and where it is offered not on behalf of those whom we hold dear, but on behalf of those who wish us harm. To explore such a healing oil in our broken world we must first ask what exactly have we forgotten in the context of our four linked voices – Truth, Mercy, Justice, and Peace – and then we must plunge ourselves toward the contexts of where we may least expect to find this oil, but where miraculously it is present and attests that Mercy is the pathway of the courageous and not the cowardly…