Canticle of Mary; Luke 1: 46-55

Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Isaiah 54: 10

Though the mountains leave their place
     and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
     nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
     says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

Keys of the Kingdom: Mercy

"There is one thing we most of us forget. Christ taught it. The Church teaches it . . . though you wouldn't think so to hear a great many of us today. No one in good faith can ever be lost. No one. Buddhists, Mohammedans, Taoists . . . the blackest cannibals who ever devoured a missionary . . . If they are sincere, according to their own lights, they will be saved. That is the splendid mercy of God. So why shouldn't He enjoy confronting a decent agnostic at the Judgement Seat with a twinkle in his eye: ‘I'm here you see, in spite of all they brought you up to believe. Enter the Kingdom which you honestly denied.’"

Psalm 25: 14-22

The Lord's friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.

My eyes are always on the Lord;
for he rescues my feet from the snare.
Turn to me and have mercy
for I am lonely and poor.

Relieve the anguish of my heart
and set me free from my distress.
See my affliction and my toil
and take all my sins away.

See how many are my foes;
how violent their hatred for me.
Preserve my life and rescue me.
Do not disappoint me, you are my refuge.
May innocence and uprightness protect me:
for my hope is in you, O Lord.
Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.

Psalm 39: 8-13

Set me free from all my sins,
do not make me the taunt of the fool.
I was silent, not opening my lips,
because this was all your doing.

Take away your scourge from me.
I am crushed by the blows of your hand.
You punish man's sins and correct him;
like the moth you devour all he treasures.

Mortal man is no more than a breath;
O Lord, hear my prayer.
O Lord, turn your ear to my cry.
Do not be deaf to my tears.

In your house I am a passing guest,
a pilgrim, like all my fathers.
Look away that I may breathe again
before I depart to be no more.

Psalm 31, pt. 2

Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I am in distress.
Tears have wasted my eyes,
my throat and my heart.

For my life is spent with sorrow
and my years with sighs.
Affliction has broken down my strength
and my bones waste away.

In the face of all my foes
I am a reproach,
an object of scorn to my neighbors
and of fear to my friends.

Those who see me in the street
run far away from me.
I am like a dead man, forgotten,
like a thing thrown away.

But as for me, I trust in you, Lord,
I say: "You are my God.
Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your love."

2 Kings 20:5

I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you.

Isaiah 63:9

It was not a messenger or an angel,
but he himself who saved them.
Because of his love and pity
he redeemed them himself,
Lifting them and carrying them
all the days of old.

Jeremiah 14: 15, 17

Thus says the Lord: Speak to them this word:
Let my eyes stream with tears
day and night, without rest,
Over the great destruction which overwhelms
the virgin daughter of my people,
over her incurable wound.

What Looks Down, Pope Benedict XVI

What looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life's horror.

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.

My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.

Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.

The Intercession of Michael, from The Apocalypse of Paul

When those who were in this very place saw me weeping with the angel, they cried out and themselves wept, saying: "O Lord God, have mercy on us!" And after that I saw heaven opened and the archangel Michael coming down from heaven, and with him the whole host of angels, and they came to those who were placed in the punishments. And seeing him they cried out again with tears, and said: "Have mercy on us, archangel Michael, have mercy on us and on the human race, for because of your prayers the earth continues. We have now seen the judgment and known the Son of God. It was impossible for us to pray for this previously before we came to this place. For we did hear that there was a judgment before we came forth from the world, but tribulations and a worldly-minded life did not allow us to repent." And Michael answered and said: "Listen when Michael speaks: It is I who stand in the presence of God every hour: As the Lord lives, in whose presence I stand, for one day or one night I do not cease from praying continually for the human race, and I pray for those who are still on earth. They, however, do not stop committing iniquity... and they do not help me in what is good while they are placed on earth. And the time during which you ought to have repented you used up in vanity. But I have always thus prayed and now I beseech that God may send dew and that rain may be appointed over the earth, and I continue to pray until the earth bring forth its fruit; and I say that if anyone has done even only a little good I will strive for him and protect him until he escapes the judgement of punishments. Where are your prayers? Where is your repentance? You have squandered time contemptibly. But now weep, and I will weep with you, and the angels who are with me together with the dearly beloved Paul, if perchance the merciful God will show mercy and give you ease." And when they heard these words they cried out and wept much and said all together: "Have mercy on us, Son of God." And I, Paul, sighed and said: "Lord God, have mercy on what you have fashioned, have mercy on the children of men, have mercy on your own image."

Forgiven Much, Loved Much, by St. Robert Bellarmine

To please God by penance it is not enough to say in words, "I am sorry for my sin." Rather, we need the deep and profound sorrow from the heart that can hardly be found without sobs and tears and sighs. It is amazing how severely the holy Fathers speak of true contrition. Saint Cyprian says in the sermon On Apostates, "Let us weep as abundantly as we have sinned greatly. Let careful and long treatment not be lacking for a deep wound. Let penance be no less than the sin. We ought to beg more insistently, pass the day in mourning, spend nights in watching and tears, fill every moment with tears and laments, lie on the ground and cling to the ashes, turn about in haircloth and dirt." Clement of Alexandria in Eusebius' History calls penance "a baptism of tears." Saint Gregory Nazianzen, in the Second Homily on Baptism says, "I welcome penitents if I see them wet with tears". . .

A heart truly contrite and humble really arouses the mercy of God our Father in a marvelous way. For the sweetness and goodness of the Father cannot refrain from going forth to the prodigal but truly repentant son, and embracing and kissing him. He will give him the ring of peace, wipe away the tears of sorrow, and fill him with tears of joy sweeter than all honey (Lk 15: 11-32).

Saint Robert (died 1621) was a brilliant Jesuit preacher and theologian noted for his rational argumentation.

Hymn of Forgiveness

Drained the wine and sung the songs,
Scattered friends like leaves on wind,
Dead the fire and cold the hearth--
Dust and ashes: we have sinned.

Hunger prowls this hollow house;
Thirst laps up the drying lees
Left in cups none cared to drink
Once the feast had ceased to please.

Others eat the bread we left,
Careless as we cast aside
Love that held the door and wept
Tears unnoticed by our pride.

Still the table stands prepared,
Lonely till we cease to roam.
Fools! Why do we linger here?
Let us go: love waits at home.

Tobit 13

He scourges and then has mercy;
   he casts down to the depths of the nether world,
   and he brings up from the great abyss.
No one can escape his hand.

Praise him, you children of Israel, before the Gentiles,
   for though he has scattered you among them,
   he has shown you his greatness even there.

A Hymn of Compassion

Compassion walks the city street
And listens for uncertain feet
That seek a home they cannot find
Because the heart that leads is blind.
Compassion holds a steady light
To show the way through chill of night
And takes the homeless by the hand
To lead them to a warmer land.

Compassion walks where life is hard,
Where eyes are blank and faces marred
By pain to great to understand,
And shoulders those too weak to stand.
Compassion is the Shepherd's name:
Who from the halls of heaven came
To travel landscapes bare and bleak
For those that only love would seek.

Compassion does not tire or sleep
But walks wherever suff'rers weep
Through ages past and still to come,
Until the world is gathered home
To rest at last where Mercy reigns
And heals all ills and stills all pains.

And there Compassion's walk will cease,
Where God is all, and all is peace.

--Sr. Genevieve Glen, OSB

Psalm 116:1-9

I love the Lord because he has heard
   my voice in supplication,
because he has inclined his ear to me
   the day I called.

The cords of death encompassed me;
   the snares of the netherworld seized upon me;
   I fell into distress and sorrow,
and I called upon the name of the Lord,
   "O Lord, save my life!"

Gracious is the Lord and just;
   yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord keeps the little ones;
   I was brought low, and he saved me.

For he has freed my soul from death,
   my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the Lord
   in the land of the living.

Isaiah 49:13

Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.
For the Lord comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.

Psalm 52

I, like a green olive tree
   in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
   forever and ever.

I will thank you always for what you have done,
   and proclaim the goodness of your name
   before your faithful ones.

Excerpt from "Make us Worthy" by Anthony Esolen

We think that mercy is a sweeter and easier thing than justice, but it is not so; for justice takes us as we are, but mercy assaults us and batters at the gates of our heart, demanding that we be made new. Face to face with Love, the speaker in Herbert's poem, torn by both love and shame, wants to retreat, to go to that place more deserving of his sins. Sometimes sorrow is easier than joy, and despair more comforting than hope.