Mercy that Heals
“And in this I want to know if you love the Lord and love me as his servant and yours, if you will do this, namely, that there may never be a brother in the world who has sinned as much as he could sin, who, after seeing your eyes, goes away without your merciful forgiveness, if he asks for it.”
These words of Saint Francis to one of his brothers, quoted in the Decree for this Holy Year, show how deeply he understood and valued mercy. The man who was “true alter Christus on earth,” as the Decree puts it, could not fail to be also an image of Christ’s tireless mercy.
Merciful Attitude
Perhaps having experienced that mercy himself helped inspire Francis to show it to others. God had intervened to change the direction of his life, interrupting his promising worldly career with imprisonment and illness and soon afterward speaking to him directly. Knowing that he owed his newfound joy and spiritual freedom entirely to his Lord’s goodness, Francis wanted nothing more than to extend that goodness to others.
This merciful attitude made him a wise and gentle father to his spiritual family and a “channel of peace,” as the famous prayer says, to the many unhappy souls around him. The beloved collection of Franciscan stories, The Little Flowers of St. Francis, offers several examples—his kind, insightful handling of a brother’s temptation to despair, a trio of bandits being converted by his love—but perhaps the most distinctive instance involves “a Man with Leprosy in Soul and Body.” Francis’s service to lepers is well known, another way in which he resembled Our Lord; but this particular leper was especially difficult, screaming insults and profanities and hitting the friars who tried to care for him.
A Divine Miracle
When Francis’s brothers finally decided that the man must be possessed and they could do no more for him, Francis himself went to care for him. Gentle attempts at reasoning proved useless, so the saint went away to pray for help. The prayer must have been immediately effective, because when Francis returned and offered his services, instead of continuing to rail the sick man asked to be washed.
“And by a divine miracle,” the author relates, “wherever St. Francis touched him with his holy hands, the leprosy disappeared, and the flesh remained completely healed.” Seeing this miracle, the man cried and was deeply sorry for how he had behaved. “When he was completely washed and healed physically, he was perfectly anointed and healed spiritually,” and confessed his sins soon afterward.
The Nature of Mercy
This episode illustrates vividly the nature of mercy: to reach into the depths of wretchedness, seeing nothing but the person in need of love, and give comfort and healing in any way possible. Francis knew well the saving, all-embracing love of Christ, to Whom all human beings are like that poor leper, and Who “carried our sorrows” (Is 53:4) so that we might be healed.
That healing mercy is not only manifested in extraordinary moments like Saint Francis’s miracles. Our Lord, Whose love extends to every time, place, and person, made it universally available in the Sacrament of Penance. As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, we can do no better than to embrace with humility and gratitude the mercy that our Savior wants to pour into us—especially through His Sacraments—and ask Him to make us reflections of that mercy to others.
