Help me, O Lord , that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors’ souls… – Divine Mercy In My Soul, 163
A merciful heart is a heart that has experienced much suffering. It is able to bless because it is able to feel the pain of those who are also hurt.
It is those who have known hunger who yearn to give bread to the poor. It is those who have known sickness that yearn to comfort those in beds of affliction. It is those who have known how to be misjudged who yearn to avoid words that can break another person’s heart.
Who else can guide the desperate except those who felt hopeless? Who else can understand the grieving except those who have lost those whom they loved the most?
Mercy is never looking down upon the plight of another. Rather, it is being able to see oneself in another person’s eyes. The requirement for a merciful heart is not self-righteousness but suffering. The reward is not the right to boast, but the opportunity to heal one’s own bleeding heart.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. – Matthew 5, WEBBE
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"