A Catholic Land

God's Mercy:

The return of the prodigal son by Pompeo Batoni.

Our Lord taught us the beautiful parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-31) and that:

“I say to you that, even so, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety- nine just who have no need of repentance. (LK 15:7)

God's Mercy.

All humans can avail themselves of God's great and generous Mercy. How great is God's Mercy? This is revealed in the Book of Ecclesiasticus:

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men, For equal to his majesty is the mercy that he shows.[Ecc.2: 18]

And that is a great deal of Mercy indeed and for which we owe God great gratitude.
Through sincere repentance, the contrite of heart, can find abundant forgiveness from God through His great Mercy. Sacramental confession (through the Ministry of the Church) follows Our Lord's teaching to the Apostles; as shown in St John's gospel:

He therefore said to them again,
“Peace be to you! As the Father has
sent me, I also send you.” When he
had said this, he breathed upon them,
and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit;
whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven
them; and whose sins you shall retain; they are
retained “ (Jn 20:21-23.)

And the contrite experience God's love and have grace to help them.

And we can look here at how God's great Mercy has been upon mankind from the start. In the garden of Eden, Eve, and Adam, having partaken of the Forbidden fruit (from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) their destination, and the whole of mankind with them, was descent into hell upon death. But by an act of His great Mercy, God gave a decree, indeed His great Mercy is shown in the one great Battle written of in Genesis. A great chance for mankind, as shown in His words to the serpent, Lucifer, the devil, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit; the words are found in Genesis III:XV. God said:

"I will put enmity between you and the
woman, between your seed and her
seed; He shall crush your head, and
you shall lie in wait for his heel "[Gen 3:15.]

This is the one battle that the whole of mankind are part of, whether this is understood by individuals or not. We humans are all the offspring of the Woman and are called to unite and be part of this great battle against the devil and his demons. The battle is being fought all around us in every moment of our lives. This is the one battle, it is the great battle; it is the battle for our souls!

In the way of a good and loving Father, knowing and providing for His children's needs; and showing how much He wants for His children, God provided His children with the greatest act in this battle; that greatest part; thee greatest help for mankind, being the Christ coming amongst us, to teach us, to suffer and die for us; restoring to us the life of Grace and to rise again in His glorious resurrection from the dead and which redemption we must be joined with.

God's love for mankind.

Only God Himself could save mankind from our sins; only the perfect sacrifice; His great sacrifice, could suffice for God's Justice. The Hypostatic union is the term used to explain Our Lord God and Saviour taking on human flesh; to become man, without losing a single feature of the God Head; true God and true man.

Jesus Christ (God the Son) begotten of God the Father before all ages; God from God. He is of one substance with the Father, and one substance with the Holy Spirit; Consubstantial with God the Father and Consubstantial with God the Holy Spirit. Fully equal in all ways. It was through Him (God the Son) that all things were made. [Jn 1:1-14.] Taking on human flesh did not diminish His God Head in any way. The Hypostatic Union is described in the following way:

"A theological term used with reference to the Incarnation to express the revealed truth that in Christ one person subsists in Two natures, the Divine and the Human. Hypostatic means, literally, that which lies beneath as basis or foundation."1

By the power of God the Holy Spirit, Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary[Lk:1:26-38.]

Great gratitude and honour must be shown to God. To the glorious Trinity; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Our Lord God, who dwells in glory, humbled Himself to partake of our human nature; making Himself "the Son of Man" the Son of "the woman" for our sakes. As told in the beautiful preface for the feast of the Epiphany:

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all
places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; for when
Thine only – begotten Son was manifested in the substance of our mortal flesh, with the
new light of His own immortality He restored us....

And humans should never mistake how important and how serious this is. Our Lord warned us about hell on many occasions, for example in:[Lk 12.5][Lk 16:19][Mt 5:22][Mt 5:29-30][Mt7:13][Mt13:41-42][Mt25:41][Mt25:46][Mt13:50][Mk9:42-48.] Hell is the abode of the devil and his demons; at all costs, humans must strive not to go there.

God's Mercy.