Mercy:
tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook error
A major debate revolves around justice vs. mercy. You see it everywhere. You see it on T.V., you see it in the courtrooms, you see it in literature, you see it in your homes. And, while justice is important serves a purpose, it is, thankfully, not our responsibility to enforce ultimate justice. It is, however, our right, responsibility and blessing to extend our own mercy towards all.
Mercy is a privilege. To look on another with mercy is to free yourself from the burden of justice. Each of us is in need of mercy and, as we extend it, we also entitle ourselves to the right to receive it.
Mercy is a responsibility. It is our responsibility as children of God to treat our spirit siblings in a way that He would treat them if He were here.
Mercy is to have faith. It is to trust that all things are taken care of by the Lord, that He does not forget anything, that He is just in all His dealings -- and that nothing else matters.
Mercy is a right. We are entitled to be on both the giving and receiving end of mercy so long as we put forth a little effort of our own. All around you are tender mercies of the Lord -- He will bless you as you recognize and reflect His mercy in your life.
Mercy is truth. It is recognizing who and what a person is. It is looking past the faults and to the heart. Through mercy, our ability to recognize truth increases.
Mercy is a blessing. Above all, it is a blessing that we may return to our Father in Heaven through the mercy of Jesus Christ.
Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
The quality of mercy is not strain'd
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ...
It is an attribute to God himself.
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 4, sc. 1, lines 184-95
I believe that the Lord will help us. . . . I believe that his juridical concept of his dealings with his children could be expressed in this way: I believe that in his justice and mercy, he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
(found in Mercy -- The Divine Gift, President Thomas S. Monson)
The plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Thus the mercy of God must be mirrored in the mercy of man.
Elder Marion D. Hanks, "My Specialty is Mercy"
How godlike a quality is mercy. It cannot be legislated. It must come from the heart. It must be stirred up from within. It is part of the endowment each of us receives as a son or daughter of God and partaker of a divine birthright. I plead for an effort among all of us to give greater expression and wider latitude to this instinct which lies within us. I am convinced that there comes a time, possibly many times, within our lives when we might cry out for mercy on the part of others. How can we expect it unless we have been merciful ourselves?
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Blessed Are the Merciful
How great a thing is mercy. Most often it is quiet and unassuming. It receives few headlines. It is the antithesis of vengeance and hatred, of greed and offensive egotism.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Blessed Are the Merciful
It is time for each side to act with greater compassion toward the other. I am confident that as surely as this happens, those who are merciful will find the mercy for which they hunger.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Blessed Are the Merciful
Mercy is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The degree to which each of us is able to extend it becomes an expression of the reality of our discipleship under Him who is our Lord and Master.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Blessed Are the Merciful
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