Contemplation #100
The fruit of mercy is gentleness and the ability to nurture the hurting. Mercy gives us the capacity to restore the fallen and direct them lovingly back toward God. Spiritual direction is impossible without mercy. If another person has some weakness, concerning which we have the strength of grace, without mercy we will judge and despise his or her failure. At the same time we are forgetting that we stand only by grace. When we have the mercy of God, we are enabled to lift up lovingly and without condescension all others who are not resting in the grace we presently have received. At the same time, we honor the grace of God and are thankful.

Contemplation #101
Mercy and legalistic thinking are incompatible. Confidence in one’s ability to keep God’s laws righteously leads to soaring pride, harsh judgment of others, and the rejection of all who do not perform according to one’s personal standards. Mercy strikes a death-blow to legalism, undermining its whole foundation because mercy is tied to grace. It is impossible to be legalistic about mercy, being merciful in a dutiful and obedient way. Mercy is not an action, but the actions of a compassionate heart. In mercy we are called to abandon any thought of confidence in careful obedience and to become wholly people of gracious hearts.

Contemplation #102
When we combine personal humility, acceptance of grace, selfless love, and faith in God, we have all the ingredients for becoming merciful people. The process, though, is not entirely linear – that is, progressing orderly from one godly virtue to another. The Spirit may give one person greater impulses to mercy in a very direct way, which then enriches his love, while another experiences a deep sense of God’s love quite purely through some experience, which brings about in her greater mercy. Be assured that God will direct us all to hearts of astounding compassion, but the manner or way we cannot predict. However, seek and cultivate the other graces as well, and mercy will find its place.