Deus meus, misericordia mea – "My God, my mercy!" (Ps 58:18b). For God is mercy.
Yes, in God, "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed" (Ps 84:11); and, even more amazingly, in Christ, the Incarnate Son, "Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from heaven" (Ps 84:12): heaven has touched earth, God and man are reconciled.
God's mercy is incarnate in Christ, and above all in His Sacred Heart, "Divine Love in a human heart", that human Heart of mercy and love that is inseparably united to the Divine Person of the Eternal Word.
For this reason, we ought have no fear; for God has done all things for us, has sent His Son to redeem us, and offers us in the Heart of His Son the refuge for all penitent sinners, for God is rich in mercy, dives in misericordia.
Pray, therefore, above all on this feast of mercy and love, for such love, such mercy; for he who prays is saved, as St Alphonsus says.
Remember, God does not love us because we are good and lovable, no; for God is Perfect Act, with Him lies the initiative, He does not act as if impelled by any exterior necessity - therefore, God's love makes us good, makes us lovable. God loved us into existence, for to exist is to be good; God made us to be the rational creatures that we are, raising us above the rest of Creation by giving us such a likeness to Himself, a mind and heart to love; God sent His Son to save us, giving us salvation from our sins and what they justly deserve, out of His love alone; God graces us with all manner of good gifts natural and supernatural – not because we deserve anything, but because He wills it, His love effecting what it signifies: that we are good, we are lovable in His sight. One creature would not be greater than another unless God loved it more: such the Scholastic axiom.
Even the very worst sinner (as we ought each conceive of ourselves), reflecting on all he has received from the Lord, must find in such thoughts a cause for hope in Divine mercy: for God having thus manifested such lovingkindness, there is great reason for trust in the Lord for salvation.
I recall the inscription in the church Monsignor Hawes built at Mullewa: Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus – "Jesu, Jesu, be to me Jesus", that is, a Saviour. For the Holy Name means "God is [my] salvation". Divine Mercy, the Sacred Heart, the Holy Name, the Five Wounds: these many foci of our worship and devotion all signify this one consoling truth, that God is the God of love and mercy, on Whom we may depend for salvation, whatsoever may trouble and confound us.
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Two matters to confide to the burning love of Our Lord's Sacred Heart: first, in thanksgiving and supplication for its growth and success, the establishment of the Australian Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross for groups of Anglicans entering into full communion with the Vicar of Christ on this day so apt – for this evening in Perth, their former bishop, Harry Entwistle, will be ordained a Catholic priest (will he be the Ordinary, as seems probable?), and seventy others will be received into the Church; second, the hoped-for reconciliation of the Society of St Pius X with the Holy See, to the great benefit of the whole Catholic Church. Both projects are dear to the heart of our own dear Pope; may the Sacred Heart grant such graces that both appear as signal triumphs of the Lord's merciful love.
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I returned from my European holiday yester-day morning, having slept away my brief visit to Dubai (I took a taxi from the airport straight to my hotel, and didn't leave it till I took another taxi back to the airport). Most of yester-day, last night and this morning I also spent sleeping: hopefully I'll be over any lingering jetlag soon. I missed Mass for the Sacred Heart to-day, but will do as usual on Saturday mornings and visit the confessional to-morrow, in that way celebrating in a manner the Sacred Heart: for all the sacraments are fundamentally acts of worship, and confession is a special avowal of our trust in Divine mercy. Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus: quoniam in sæculum misericordia ejus.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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