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On the Lord’s Prayer

St Gregory of Nyssa, tr. Graef, 1954

5. The Beatitudes: Sermon 5

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy

Perhaps this might be compared with the symbolic vision by which Jacob was taught, who saw a ladder stretching from earth to the heights of heaven, and God standing on it.¹ In the same way we are now taught by the Beatitudes, which elevate those who ascend them to ever higher perceptions. For I suppose that what was represented to the Patriarch under the form of a ladder was the life of virtue, so that he might learn himself, and teach his posterity, that one cannot be raised to God except by always tending to the things above. We need an unceasing desire for higher things, which is not content to acquiesce in past achievements; we ought to count it a loss if we fail to progress further. Now here the sublime teaching of the Beatitudes, which support each other, prepares us to approach God Himself, who is truly blessed and the very ground of all Beatitude. Therefore, as we approach the wise through wisdom and the pure through purity, so we are also made the friend of the Blessed One through the blessings of the Beatitudes. For Beatitude is the property of God par excellence. Therefore Jacob tells us that God was leaning on a ladder. Hence participation in the Beatitudes means nothing else but to have communion with the Godhead, to which the Lord raises us by His sayings.

So it seems to me that, through the effect that follows the Beatitude under consideration, He divinizes,² as it were, His hearer, if he understands the word rightly. For He says: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now I know that in many passages of the Divine Scripture holy men call the Divine Power merciful; as does David in the Psalms, Jonas in his prophecy, and the great Moses frequently in the Law. If, therefore, the term “merciful” is suited to God, what else does the Word invite you to become but God, since you ought to model yourself on the property of the Godhead? For if the Divinely inspired Scripture calls God merciful, and if the Divinity is truly blessed, then it should be clear how the following is to be understood. It means that if a man is merciful, he is deemed worthy of the Divine Beatitude, because he has attained to that which characterizes the Divine Nature. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God showeth mercy.³ How, therefore, could a man be other than blessed who both is called and actually is the same as that for which God is named blessed because He does it? Now the holy Apostle counsels us in one of his letters to be zealous for the better gifts.⁴ It is our aim not that we should be persuaded to desire the things that are good; (for to incline towards the good is one of the inherent characteristics of human nature)—but that we should not be mistaken in our judgement as to what is good. It is here that our life is most subject to error, that we cannot clearly distinguish what is good by nature and what is mistakenly supposed to be such. For if evil was presented to our life in its nakedness, unadorned with some semblance of good, mankind would surely not fly to it so easily. Therefore we need prudence in order to understand the passage we are considering, so that we may first learn what is the true beauty it contains, and then conform ourselves to it.

The conception of the Divine is by nature inherent in all men; but ignorance of the true God is responsible for the gross errors in regard to the object of worship. Some indeed venerate the true Godhead which is contemplated in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but others have been led astray to absurd ideas by supposing this to be in a creature; and by thus swerving a little from the truth, they have opened the door to impiety. So it is also in the thought we are considering: if we do not apprehend its real meaning, the result for us will be a considerable loss of truth.

Now what is mercy, and in regard to what is it practised? And how is he blessed to whom is returned what he gives? For He says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The obvious meaning of the words calls men to mutual charity and sympathy, which are demanded by the capricious inequality of the circumstances of life; for all live not in the same conditions, neither as regards reputation nor physical constitution nor other assets. Life is in many ways divided up into opposites, since it may be spent as slave or as master, in riches or poverty, in fame or dishonour, in bodily infirmity or in good health—in all such things there is division. Therefore the creature in need should be made equal to the one who has a larger share, and that which goes short should be filled by what has abundance; this is the law mercy gives men in regard to the needy. For unless mercy soften the soul, man cannot arrive at healing the ills of his neighbour, since mercy is defined as the opposite of cruelty. The hard and cruel man is inaccessible to those who would approach him; whereas the merciful person is, as it were, predisposed by his attitude to give the sympathy that is needed, so that he can become to the afflicted exactly what the distressed mind is looking for. To sum up the explanation in a definition: Mercy is a voluntary sorrow that joins itself to the sufferings of others.

However, if we should not yet have made its meaning clear, perhaps it may be explained more lucidly by another definition. Mercy is the loving disposition towards those who suffer distress. For as unkindness and cruelty have their origin in hate, so mercy springs from love, without which it could not exist. And if one would carefully go into the distinctive property of mercy, he would find it in an intensely loving disposition combined with the affect of sorrow. For all, friends and foes alike, seek a share in a man’s good luck; whereas it is a sign of those ruled by charity to want a share also in his misfortunes. Charity, on the other hand, is admittedly more excellent than anything else that is pursued in this life. Now mercy is intensified charity. Hence a man of such disposition of soul is truly blessed, since he has reached the summit of virtue.

Let no one think that this virtue is concerned only with material things; else it could be attained only by someone who has the necessary means for doing good. No; it seems to me more adequate to place such a virtue in the choice of the will. For if a man only wills the good, but is prevented from accomplishing it by lack of means, he is not inferior, as regards his state of soul, to the person who shows his intention by works. Therefore we need not explain in detail how much we gain for our life if we understand the meaning of the Beatitude in this way; even to the quite simple the advantages this counsel has for our life should be perfectly clear. If, by hypothesis, such attitude of mind to our inferiors were innate in all of us, there would no longer be either superfluity or want. Life would no longer be lived in diametrically opposite ways; man would no longer be distressed by want or humiliated by slavery, nor would dishonour sadden him. For all things would be common to all, and his life as a citizen would be marked by complete equality before the law, since the man who was responsible for the government would of his own free will be on a level with the rest.

If such a state of affairs could become a fact, no cause would be left for enmity. Envy would be futile, hate would die out, remembrance of injuries would be banished along with lies, fraud, and war, all of which are the offspring of covetousness. If that hard and unfeeling attitude were removed, the evil growths would be weeded out with it completely, as with the root of wickedness. And with the departure of evils there would enter instead the whole array of good things, peace and justice with all their train of virtues. What could be thought to be more blessed than to live thus, when we would no longer have to entrust the safety of our lives to bolts and stones, but were secure in each other’s keeping? For just as the harsh and cruel man makes enemies of those who have come to experience his savagery; so also, contrariwise, we become all friendly with the merciful man, since mercy naturally engenders love in those who share in it. Therefore mercy, as the definition has shown, is the parent of kindness, and the pledge of charity; it is the bond of all loving disposition. How could one imagine a more stable security for life than this? Rightly, therefore, does the Word call the merciful blessed, since this name comprises so many wonderful things.

However, everyone knows that this counsel is profitable for our life. Yet I think that, by the choice of the future tense, the passage secretly suggests something more than is perceived at first sight. He says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, implying that the merciful will have their reward reserved for later.

Therefore we would disregard the obvious meaning as far as we can, since it is easily understood and quickly discovered by everybody; but we will endeavour as much as possible to let our mind penetrate the interior of the veil. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. From this passage a higher doctrine may be learned. It is this. He who made man in His own image endowed the nature of His handiwork with the principles of all goodness. Hence nothing good enters into us from outside, but it lies with us to have what we will, and to bring forth the good from our nature as if from some inner chamber. For from the parts we are taught about the whole, that there is no other way of obtaining one’s desire except by procuring the good for oneself. Therefore the Lord says to His hearers: The Kingdom of God is within you;⁵ and, Everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.⁶ So it depends on us and is in the power of our free will to receive what we desire, to find what we seek, and to enter where we wish to be. Consequently the opposite is equally affirmed together with this, namely, that the inclination towards evil also comes into existence uncompelled by any external necessity. Evil subsists as soon as it is chosen; it comes into being whenever we elect it. It has no substance of its own; apart from deliberate choice evil exists nowhere.⁷

Hence it is evident that the Lord of nature has endowed the nature of man with the power of ruling itself and willing freely. For all things, whether good or bad, depend on our choice. But the incorruptible and just sentence of the Divine Judgement follows the choice we have made according to our purpose, and distributes to each what he has happened to prepare for himself. To them indeed, as says the Apostle, who, according to patience, in good work, seek glory and honour . . . eternal life; but to them that . . . obey not the truth but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation,⁸ and whatever other words signify the bitter retribution. For mirrors⁹ show the faces they reflect precisely as they are, cheerful of those who are cheerful, gloomy of those who look sad. Yet no one would hold the nature of the mirror responsible for the gloom of the face reflected, if the original itself shows depression. So also God’s just Judgement adapts itself to our own dispositions; according as we do, it provides for us from our own.

Come, He says, ye blessed, and, Depart, you cursed.¹⁰ Is there any external necessity here why those on the right should be addressed with the sweet, those on the left with the bitter words? Have not the former received mercy through what they have done, and the latter made God cruel to themselves because they behaved cruelly to their own kind? This rich man who frittered away his life in luxuries has not shown mercy to the poor in distress before his gate, wherefore he has cut himself off from mercy, and when he asks for mercy, he is not heard; not because one drop would have diminished the great fountain of Paradise, but because the drop of mercy cannot mix with cruelty. For what fellowship has light with darkness?¹¹ For, He says, what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.¹² The seed I take to be a man’s own choice, the harvest the retribution which follows that choice. To those who have chosen good things the ear of corn will yield the same; whereas those who have cast thorny seeds in their life, will laboriously gather the thorns. For a man must needs reap the same as he has sown, it cannot be otherwise.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Which human reason could plumb the depth of thought contained in these words? The fact that this saying is quite without qualifications induces us to go more carefully into what has been said. For He added no indication as to who the people are to whom one ought to show mercy, but He says simply, Blessed are the merciful. Perhaps, taking into account what has already been said, the Word suggests to us somehow that the idea of mercy follows from the sorrow that is called blessed. There a man who spends his life in sorrow was pronounced blessed, and here, I think, the Word inculcates the same teaching. For we are affected by the ills of others, when our friends have met with grievous misfortunes. They may, for example, have been driven from their father’s house, have escaped with their bare life from shipwreck, or come into the power of pirates or robbers. They may have been made slaves from freemen, or from happy circumstances have been reduced to the state of captives. Briefly, they were once held to be favoured by fortune, but have now met with some such adversity. On account of these things our souls would be inclined to sorrow. But perhaps it would be much more appropriate if we were so disposed with regard to ourselves, on account of the wound that has been inflicted on our life contrary to its original dignity. We need only consider the glorious home from which we have been driven out, how we have fallen among the robbers, and, defenceless and naked, were left submerged in the depths of this life. We need but reflect on the nature and number of those great tyrants into whose service we have been pressed instead of leading a free and independent life, and how we have spoiled this life of bliss by death and corruption.

How is it possible that with this in mind we should spend our pity on the misfortunes of others? Should the soul not rather be disposed to have pity on itself if it thinks of what it once possessed, and from what state it has fallen? For what is more pitiable than this captivity? Instead of enjoying Paradise, we have been allotted this unwholesome place where to live and toil; instead of being impassible, we have been doomed to passions without number. Instead of living with the angels on the heights, we have been condemned to dwell with the beasts of the earth. Yes, we have exchanged an angelic existence free from passions for the life of the brutes—and who could easily tell the number of stern masters to whose rage our life is now subject? Wrath is a bitter despot, and so is envy. Hate and the vice of pride are raging tyrants, thoughts of license behave insolently as if dealing with slaves and bring nature into bondage to passions and impurity; but greed greatly surpasses all other tyranny in venom. For it enslaves the miserable soul and compels it always to fulfil its insatiable desires; it is constantly filled, yet never satisfied. It is like a many-headed monster which, through innumerable mouths, provides food for a stomach that is never filled. It has never gained enough, but whatever it receives becomes invariably fuel kindling the desire for more. Hence, if one considers this wretched life, how could he be altogether without pity for such calamities?

The fact that we do not take pity on ourselves is due to our insensibility in the face of these evils. It may be compared to the experience of the insane, whom the violence of the disease prevents also from being sensible to what they suffer. If therefore a man knew himself, both what he had once been and what he now is—for Solomon says somewhere that the wise men know themselves—he would never cease to have pity; and this habit of soul would surely be followed by the Divine pity. Therefore He says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

They themselves, that is, not others. This is made clear by the words, just as if one said: it is blessed to be concerned with one’s physical health. For if a man is concerned about this, he will live in good health. Thus also is the merciful called blessed, because the fruit of mercy becomes itself the possession of the merciful; whether in the sense we have just discovered, or in the one that has been dealt with before; I mean the one that is concerned with the soul’s sympathy for the misfortunes of others. Either is equally good, to have pity on oneself in the manner aforesaid, and to sympathize with the misfortunes of our neighbours. For the just judgement of God invests man’s goodwill towards the needy with the highest authority; so that in some way man is his own judge, because he passes sentence on himself by judging those subject to him.¹³

Now it is believed, and rightly so, that all mankind will be presented before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive the things according as he has done in the body, whether good or bad. Therefore I may perhaps say something bold: If what is ineffable and invisible be capable of being apprehended by thought, then one can even now perceive the blessed reward of the merciful. For the gratitude of souls who have received kindness towards those who have shown them mercy surely remains beyond this life in life eternal. What then is likely to happen in the hour of reckoning, when those who have received kindness will recognize their benefactor? What will his soul feel when grateful voices joyfully acclaim him before the God of all creation? Will he need any other beatitude added, who in so great a theatre is applauded for all that is best? For the Word of the Gospel teaches that those who have received benefits will be present¹⁴ at the King’s Judgement on the just and on sinners. He shows it to both, pointing as it were with a finger at the things above—As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren.¹⁵ By saying these He indicates the presence of those to whom good has been done.

Now if anyone prefers the dead matter of property to the future beatitude, let him tell me: what is this shining gold, these glittering jewels, these rich clothes—what kind of good can he hope these will be? When the King of creation shall reveal Himself to mankind, seated in splendour on the throne on high, we shall see around Him the innumerable myriads of angels, and the eyes of all will perceive the transcendent Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, fearful punishments will be revealed; but between these there will be all mankind, all that have existed from the first creation even unto the consummation of the world. And they will stand suspended between fear and hope of the things to come, often trembling, which of the two things that are to be expected will be their final lot. What hope, I say, will he have, when even those who have lived with a good conscience will begin to doubt, as they see others dragged down into that black darkness by their evil conscience as by an executioner. When this man will be led to the Judge accompanied by praise and gratitude from the voices of those to whom he has done good, shining with confidence because of his good works—will he then think material wealth could be compared with this bliss? If all mountains and plains, woods and waters were changed into gold for him, would he accept them in exchange for those marvellous things?

But now consider the man who has carefully shut away his mammon behind seals and bolts and iron-bound doors, in secure hiding places, who has thought the secret accumulation of wealth preferable to any commandment. When, head foremost, he is dragged down into the fire of darkness, all who have experienced it in this life will tax him with his inhuman cruelty. They will say, Remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime.¹⁶ You have shut up in the safes mercy along with your riches. You have relinquished mercy on earth; you have not brought neighbourly love to the life here. You do not now have what has never been yours; you do not find what you did not put by. You do not gather what you did not scatter, you do not reap from seeds you did not sow. Your harvest is worthy of your sowing. You have sown bitterness, cull now its sheaves; you have held in esteem the lack of mercy, have now what you have loved. You have looked on no one with sympathy, neither are you now regarded with compassion. You have neglected the afflicted, you shall be neglected when you perish. You have shunned mercy; mercy will shun you. You have abhorred the poor, He who has been poor for your sake will abhor you.

When things such as these shall be said, where will be the gold? Where the splendid vessels? Where will be the security affixed to the treasures by seals? Where will be the dogs that were assigned to watch by night, where the store of arms laid up against burglars? Where will be the accounts entered into the books? What is all this against the weeping and gnashing of teeth? Who will lighten the darkness and extinguish the flame? Who shall turn away the undying worm?

Therefore, brethren, let us heed the voice of the Lord, who in a few words teaches us so many things about the future life. Let us become merciful, so that through mercy we may become blessed, in Christ Jesus Our Lord to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

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