Mercy Training > Merciful Heart
The Merciful Heart
To understand Mercy Evangelization, we must understand the sometimes difficult communication between the mind and the heart.
The Heart only understands physical closeness and attentiveness.
We were eating dinner and sharing the days experiences when Elizabeth, one of the students, received a phone call. Someone was calling her about a problem which had to be resolved right away. Elizabeth came back a while later and said she was sorry and explained the need to take the call. Later that evening I realized that my Heart was having a problem with Elizabeth and I couldn’t understand why.
Another time I had to miss Danelle’s birthday because it was agreed upon by both of us that I had to go to a country in South America to help in a school of Mercy Evangelization. It was logical and necessary that I go. We even agreed together that I should go. When I came back Danelle’s Heart was hurting because I had missed her birthday. Why?
The Heart does not understand, it hurts when Heart promises are broken and the beloved is physically separated. You cannot reason with a Heart. Elizabeth was to be at the table with us. She got up and left and my Heart hurt. It could not be reasoned with. I was to be at Danelle’s birthday and wasn’t there. Her heart hurt and could not be reasoned with. The Heart is not logical. It only understands physical closeness and promise keeping.
We are not speaking here of the times where we say one thing and then do another. In those cases it would “make sense” to be upset. We are talking about doing something which physically separates us from promised relationship for whatever the reason. Even if an event occurs which “justifies” a change of closeness at the appointed time, the Heart will hurt.
With the hurt comes a separation of relationship until Mercy is released from the Heart of the “offended.” The Heart does not forgive in the traditional sense of the term. The Heart hurts and into the hurt God’s Mercy must flow to transform the wounded Heart into a Merciful wounded Heart.
The Heart and the head live in two different worlds. The Heart is unreasonable. The head is logical. The Heart forgives only because Mercy washes over it. The mind can be reasoned with and forgive. No circumstantial reason will be accepted by the Heart. The head can understand circumstances.
A mother dies at the birth of her child. The child’s Heart will not accept it, though it was not the mother’s fault. On the contrary the mother died giving birth and the child should understand. Only a touch of Divine Mercy can transform the wound. A mother is separated from a child when she is killed in an accident which is totally not her fault. The Heart of the child does not accept it. When the child becomes an adult he can be reasoned with but the wound is there because of the separation that occurred. Only Mercy can heal the adult Heart. He may need to forgive his mother for dying; but only infilling Mercy can transform the wound.
Our Heart is exactly like the Heart of God. He understands sin and the separation that occurs. But His Heart is wounded and hurts because of the separation. Physical closeness protects the Heart. This is why we spend time face-to-Face with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a Heart-to-Heart with Him to keep us from hurting, to keep Him from hurting. This is why we “eat” Jesus at Mass to have Him in our Hearts to keep us from being overwhelmed by the hurt of separation. We were made to be so close to one another and to God that no hurt can come between us. All separation causes hurt even when the separation can be justified to the mind.
The Heart only understands Mercy; the head on the other head is very reasonable. An example is my reaction to a beautiful painting by a Protestant Dutch Reformed artist. He is one of the best artists of his time. I agree with that but from the time I first saw one of his paintings I kept saying to Danelle, «That painting is so beautiful, but my Heart is troubled by it and I don’t know why.» If you love the painting and the artist, I respect that. But my Heart does not agree with the theology of the painting. The painting is The Prodigal Son and the artist of course is Rembrandt HarmenszoonVan Ryn.
If somehow you have not seen the painting here is a brief explanation of the magnificently painted scene. The father has received his son back and the son is on his knees with his back toward us in tattered clothes. The older brother looks sternly on while others in the dark background observe the scene. The father has the hands of a man and woman which are firmly placed on the back of the son. Very well done indeed. The painting is the artist’s interpretation of the Gospel of Luke chapter 15, the story of the prodigal son. I have probably meditated on this passage more than on any other of the Gospel stories.
After a few years of being troubled by the scene portrayed I decided to do two things. One, I reread the Bible passage comparing it with the painting and my Heart. Secondly, I decided to study the life of the artist. The Bible story confirmed what my unreasonable Heart knew; as did studying the life and culture of the artist. Again, this is not a criticism of either the artist nor his genius in painting. It is an attempt to explain the unexplainable Heart and how it discerns Truth sometimes in contradiction to the logical mind.
One of the first articles I read about Rembrandt was entitled, «Rembrandt Van Ryn: A Protestant Artist.» The artist lived from 1606 to 1669 at a time when Reformed Calvinistic theology had taken root all over Europe especially in Holland. Its counter part in the Catholic Church, Jansenism got its name from a Dutchman. My Heart has problems with a few of the Catholic paintings of the same period although Protestants and Catholics only painted as they were taught to believe. Rembrandt loved the Protestant Bible and was close to the Mennonites whose theology is similar to Baptists.
Two focal points of Protestant theology were: that the Father was a forgiving God if man repented, and that God is both Father and Mother. The consequence of the first is a misunderstanding about Mercy; that of the second is a misunderstanding about Mary. Mercy can not be earned even by repentance. In fact, Mercy can neither be earned nor lost. If it could it would not be Mercy (See Search for the Beautiful Garden the chapter on Mercy vs. judgment). The consequence of misunderstanding God’s fundamental nature is thinking that there is no place for Mary in God’s plan of Redemption; thus the male and female hands of God in the painting. I guess you know by now what we think of trying to redeem Man without the Mother.
Mercy and Mary are only understood in Catholicism. We are not trying to alter your concept of the painting; we are trying to alter your concept of God. He is Mercy. Probably a one word difference between Catholicism and Protestantism is, you guessed it - our concept of Mercy. A painful experience for Danelle and me is to encounter a priest or Catholic theologian who thinks like a Protestant. Thinking like a Protestant means making Mercy conditional and making Mary unnecessary. Two bedrocks of Catholic Mercy theology are that God the Father is merciful and that Mary is our Mother.
Reading the Bible description carefully reveals the unbelievable Compassion of the Father. His Mercy is revealed to both sons. As Danelle observed, it never says if either the older or the younger son permanently changed. Good behavior does not win the Father’s acceptance. It is the death of Jesus on the Cross which did that. We will not grovel and crawl in repentance when we meet the Father.
The Father is running toward us arms open wide like in the film described in the section on the Mercy Hug (Lu. 15:20). He longs to pick us up and hold us like the sheep in the Mercy Icon. Our Hearts know this very well. We just need to convince our intellect. Heart reasoning is only reasonable to a Heart. To our hearts, the Mercy Icon is like a painting of one of the Master’s.