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Episode 21 - Mercy
Today's word is Mercy.
Yes, Mercy.
Mercy is really a beautiful word, more or less it means pity..
No, no, it is a problem, look it is a problem, because Mercy is a word which has been..
Which has been taken from Latin which by the way has a strange etymology, it has to do with
giving their heart, it has to do with compassion, etc etc.
Right, Mercy means..
Well no, the problem is that in Greek it is eleos, right?
Right.
Eleos, which by the way as a noun it is quite rare. It is much more frequent..
The adjective is very rare. Let start with today's text, from the Gospel of Matthew: "Blessed are the merciful"
5:7. This adjective is very rare. In the old Testament it is never found, in the new Testament
it is found two times. The most frequent thing is the verb.
So, for example the difference with the Muslims is evident. Don't they call him Allah the
merciful?
It is a mess. It is a word that.. Which in Greek translates other two or three Hebrew words.
One is Chen which means Grace, also with the meaning of beauty. For example the name
Anna..
yes.
...means .. derives from this word.
The gracious.
The gracious. It is Grace, Grace. Anna is Grace, Grace. Grace with the meaning of pretty, of..
Good appearance.
Of good appearance. Then we have Chesed, or Chesed. The meaning of Chesed is a mess because
mainly it means mutual benevolence. Then we have Chamim which is the compassion in the
meaning of the emotion, in the emotional meaning of the term.
Well, I get a lump in my throat.
I get a lump in my throat for you, something like that. And all this has been translated with Eleos, isn't?
Well, goodbye.
Eleos, but the verb Elehein, also has a judicial meaning in the language of imperial Greek,
because it is the acclamation that we do for the Emperor, Kiri eleison,...
Ah!
Which means: "Oh Lord", namely "Oh king, grant us an amnesty".
Yes.
So it means that he releases the prisoners. It was the exclamation that they used to do to the Emperor
and that also we do to the King Christ, Christ the victorious, isn't it? And it is an acclamation to Christ
the glorious, it is not a request for forgiveness. So it is a mess.
Well, but what are we then looking for?
.. Mainly the problem here is: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy"
here the use of the verb is referred to God, and this is normal, because all the times in
the great majority of instances, for example, 30:1, this verb is referred to God, so
it is God that is merciful.
So the merciful are so because God shows them Mercy, isn't it?
It is God that shows mercy. It is God that is merciful in the meaning that he is beautiful
and gratuitous, because he is the one who is faithful to his pact, he's the one who is
moved, isn't it? And these are all attributes of God that are translated with this expression.
Mercy.
Then, as a consequence, man is like this, because he is an imitation of God because he lives with God,
looks what God does, receives the Mercy of God and so he also has a position
of Mercy, but Mercy is an attribute of God.
So when we once used the expression: "Most Gracious Majesty" it was somehow referred
to this thing?
Certainly. Most gracious Majesty was used because it represented a living incarnation of the Mercy
of God. But even today not in Switzerland but in Italy the Ministry charged with the administration
of Justice is called the Ministry of Grace and Justice.
Right.
For this same reason, isn't it? So it is the initiative of who reconstitutes the previous
situation. Before sin, before disorder, and since it is an initiative of God,
then we also give Mercy. So it is not that we are merciful
and then we will be shown Mercy. It is a circle, isn't it? God is merciful with us,
so we can imitate the behaviour of God.