J.M.J. In
his remarkable book, The Mother of the
Savior and Our Interior Life, Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
(1877-1964) addressed the subject of Our Lady as the Mother of Mercy. "The title of Mother of Mercy is one of Mary's
greatest. Mercy is not the same thing as mere emotional pity. Mercy is in the
will, pity is but a good inclination of the sensibility. Pity, which does not
exist in God Who is a pure spirit, leads us to suffer in unison with our
neighbor as if we felt his suffering in ourselves. It is a good inclination but
usually a timid one, being accompanied by fear of harm to ourselves and often
helpless to render effective aid."
Our Lady, along with her Divine Son, Jesus, offers to us a pattern
for our efforts to be merciful. In fact, the Son and the Mother are the
template for our attempts to pardon others. "She teaches us, though, that if
mercy is not justice it is not opposed to it as injustice is, but unites itself
to it and goes beyond it: most of all in pardoning, for to pardon is to go
beyond what is demanded by justice in forgiving an offense."
Father
Garrigou-Lagrange explained that Our Mother of Mercy, to whom Pope Francis has
entrusted the preparations for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, "reminds us
too that God often gives us His mercy more than we need, more than He is
obliged in justice to Himself to give; that He gives us more than we merit--the
grace of Holy Communion, for example, which is not merited."
Reflect
on how the merciful Ever-Virgin is for us, in the words of the Litany of
Loreto, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, Help
of Christians.
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