Jesus said to his disciples: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. ( Lk 6:36).
God is good all the time.
In the play
The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare wrote the following about mercy:
The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. It is mightiest in the mightiest; It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown...we all do pray for mercy. And that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.
The truth about this excerpt is that in today's gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to acquire the gracious habit of being merciful as our Father in heaven. The highest quality of mercy is its being God's attribute, which we can possess by imitation.
Jesus asks us to pray to receive mercy from the Father in order that we can grant it to others. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us”( Matt 6:12). That is why no overwhelming feeling of greatness we experience is comparable to one that emerges from an act of compassion towards others.
Mercy and its correlates of non-judgment, non-condemnation, forgiveness, and charity have boomerang effects on us. To experience any of these, we must first practice it towards others. And the more we deliver to others; they come to us in more significant quantities. Let us fervently and sincerely pray for the grace and courage to strive to become merciful like the Father. Amen.