Of all the words said and sung during Holy Mass, one of the most often used is the word “mercy.”
At the beginning of the Mass when we confess our sins, we pray Almighty God to have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. During the Kyrie, we plead with Our Lord nine times to have mercy upon us. When we sing the Gloria in Excelsis, we ask the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father who takes away the sin of the world and sits at the right hand of the Father, to have mercy upon us. During the Collect, we often beg Our Lord to hear and grant our prayer based on His mercy. Right before we receive the Lord’s Body and Blood, we again pray the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world to have mercy upon us. And in one of the prayers before approaching the Altar, we beseech Our Lord Jesus Christ to let our eating and drinking not be to our judgment, but of His mercy, to let the Blessed Sacrament preserve us in body and soul and show forth within us His healing.
So again and again we pray, in one way or another, “Lord, have mercy.”
But what is “mercy”? What does it mean for the Lord to have mercy?
To ask for mercy is to plead for God’s injustice. For mercy is not justice but the opposite of justice. Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is getting something undeserved. Justice is about fairness and evenhandedness. Mercy is about stepping outside the boundaries, bending the rules, and showing compassion.
That’s truly what’s needed in today’s word: not justice, but mercy. And that’s truly what we need: not God treating us fairly, as we deserve; but God bending the rules—even the rules of nature—so that we might live in His kingdom.
When we enter the Mass, we are entering God’s kingdom. And, if we are honest—if God is just—then we certainly don’t belong. But God is merciful, and permits us to stand in His sight; to bring our children to His fount of love; to hear our prayers for help; and to consume His own flesh and blood. And we not only desire this; we also don’t wish it to end. And so, as we stand in the Lord’s kingdom, we pray, “Lord have mercy”—which means among other things, “Lord, let us stay; continue to hear us and permit us to be with you.”
This constant prayer is not only about us. It is also a prayer for the world. We say, “Lord have mercy” not only so we can stand before Him, but so that He might continue this life so that others may come into His kingdom.
So the prayer, “Lord, have mercy” should also continually remind us that everything depends on the Lord’s mercy. To be specific, Our Lord’s mercy given in the Mass is what maintains and sustains the entire world. For His mercy keeps the devil at arm’s length, and subdues our own self-centeredness, and helps us navigate through the world’s hell-bent self-destruction.
No doubt, this is why St. Ignatius said, “Try to gather together more frequently to celebrate God’s Eucharist, and to praise Him.” St Ignatius was a bishop, in chains, led by malicious soldiers to his execution and martyrdom. But in the midst of that, he saw God’s mercy. He saw that the Lord was compassionate, even while he was suffering. And, even more clearly, he firmly believed that God’s mercy was located most really and most certainly in one place—in the Mass, celebrated in the temples of God.
We go to Mass to receive God’s mercy. But we also go to Mass because the world needs God’s mercy. Not just the idea of His mercy, but the action, the reality, the continual working of His mercy.
Perhaps this is why Our Lord has famously said, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”