Today’s Office of Readings has an excerpt from St. Leo the Great’s discourse on the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are the perfection of the moral life. The natural law is the foundation of all morality and the Ten Commandments are God’s revelation of the eternal unchanging basis for our moral life. The Beatitudes are the ways of excellence.
Today, St. Leo says (my translation from Italian): “‘ You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your spirit and with all your strength.’ In fact, to love God is none other than to love justice. But as loving God is associated with care for one’s neighbor, so the desire for justice joins itself with the virtue of mercy. Therefore, the Lord says, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will find mercy.'” — St. Leo the Great, Disc. 95; PL 54.
Mercy and justice are partners in the moral life. Amazing isn’t it? When we are the ones to be on the receiving end of things, we desire mercy. When we are on the giving end, we want justice. Justice and mercy are not mutually exclusive. They are completely linked. Justice is foundational; mercy is excellent.
If we want to be truly free, if we want the freedom of excellence, we in justice pursue mercy.
