1. Fifth Sunday of Lent.
Christ shows us how the sequence should be in the act of mercy shown to the woman caught in adultery. This is true mercy coming from the Son of God and this same mercy is what must be shown by man.
Before mercy should be the virtue of justice. And after mercy the virtue of justice must follow again. The same sequence is shown in the Beatitudes. Before ‘blessed are the merciful’ we have ‘blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. Justice is before mercy. And after mercy comes clean of heart, ‘blessed are the clean of heart’ which is an expression of justice.
So clearly, mercy is surrounded before and after with Beatitudes or virtues. When mercy stands alone this is called ‘contempt’ according to St. Thomas of Aquinas. It is a sign of contempt for God and contempt for man.
2. Christian mercy as shown by Christ.
The Pharisee brings a woman caught in adultery to Christ to be judged. And Christ agrees that they should follow the law of Moses; that is for them to stone the woman. That is Justice.
Then Christ tells the Pharisees to examine their conscience and he who has no sin throw the first stone. Now, the Pharisees, in turn performs an act of justice by judging themselves.
Here are two acts of justice, one act by Christ and the other act by the Pharisees. These two acts were followed by an act of mercy. One from the Pharisees who did not stone the woman; ‘has no one condemned you? No one, sir.’ and they left one by one . The other from Christ who forgives the woman, ‘nor do I condemn you.
Then the two acts of mercy were followed by two acts of justice again. The Pharisees did an act of Justice by repenting for having judged the woman and tested Jesus Christ. Repentance is an act of justice. Then Christ demanded an act of justice from the woman in the form of an act of repentance, also, ‘you may go. But from now on, avoid this sin.’ These are acts of Justice in the form of repentance.
Before mercy, the two act of justice are acts of justice coming from man’s thirst. After mercy, the two acts of justice comes from a clean and pure heart.
3. Virtues are inter-connected.
Virtues overlap with one another because they are all expressions of Charity; they are different aspects of charity. Where there is one virtue the others are, also, there. So we have the virtue of mercy surrounded by Justice and a pure heart. All of these Beatitudes are in the supernatural order. They are, in fact, the different degrees of holiness or different degrees of Charity.
4. The natural virtues.
The virtues have their natural equivalents. As such they are entirely different from the supernatural virtues. The natural virtues are not signs of holiness nor signs of charity. And they are not interconnected with each other. Instead, they can appear side by side with vices and sins. So St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote in his ‘Catena Aurea’ that mercy in the natural level usually go side by side with contempt of God and neighbor. We show mercy by tolerating the sins and vices of others to show our contempt for God; like saying, ‘do what you want and I don’t care what God thinks.’ Or, we show our contempt of neighbor by saying ‘do what you want and I don’t care if you go to hell.’
5. The mercy of Pope Francis.
The mercy of Pope Francis stands alone. It is not connected to Justice nor to any other virtues. It is a sign of contempt for God because Pope Francis’ mercy is ‘do what you want and I don’t care if you sin against God.’ This is contempt of God.
Pope Francis’ mercy is, also, contempt of man because it says; ‘do what you want and I don’t care if you go to hell.’ This is practically hatred of man.
This is precisely what is being said when adulterers are encouraged to receive Holy Communion, and when mothers with child are told to take contraceptive if they have the Zika virus. This is what is said when atheist, Protestants and evangelicals are told to remain in their unbelief.
When we are told to save the planet than save our souls, this is contempt of God who said to save the soul first. And likewise when we are told to invoke mother earth rather than the Blessed Trinity.
6. Cause for confusion
We are faced with priests who use Catholic terms with fixed theological definitions but degraded with down to earth connotations. Who can ever think that mercy which is a high degree of sanctity can be identified with contempt of God? Who can ever think that a high degree of spiritual happiness here on earth can be reduced to mere spoiling of earthly brats. And our religious leaders just did it.
We live in times where the noblest spiritual concepts had been used to describe gutter ideas, Divine ideas to describe the things of the flesh. See how they decorate their down to earth ideas with theological tinsels; ‘the jubilee year of mercy.’ It has been said that after Vatican II the words used to describe the way to heaven is identical to the way that leads to hell and nobody have noticed it.
7. True mercy.
True mercy should sound like this; ‘if you have left your first family and are now living in adultery you are guilty of mortal sin. And both of you are going to hell. That is justice. But if you go back to your first wife and take back your children…..after leaving your mistress, then you may receive Holy Communion. That is mercy. Then what you have failed to do, which is to love your real family, do it now and sanctify their souls together with yours. And never leave your true family nor see your mistress again. That is Justice. Justice, mercy, justice. That is the right way of doing it. Was that the way you heard it from the Bishop’s Synod? No? Maybe, they are not Christians.
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