“Please, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord, and in the name of the church, I asked you to be merciful, very merciful.” With these words, Pope Francis recently instructed the soon-to-be priests of Rome on the proper disposition when administering the sacrament of penance. These words could be the same to best summarize Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia.”
The text, focused on the family, is about the law of God, the love of God, and the nature of God — all of which are infinite and unchanging. It is about the family unit, which is called to best exemplify the Trinity of earth. It is about the gift of humanity, which by our vary nature is anything but unchanging, growing in understanding and enlightenment.
This is precisely why it is so important for the Church to teach doctrine in a way that is very clearly black and white to a frail humanity. God’s natural laws are unchanging and have to be understood as such. Simultaneously, while the word of God is taught in black and white, human nature is still being formed in His perfect likeness and image. While in its formative state humanity remains gray, and gray is were mercy can be found.
In interpreting the direction that “Amoris Laetitia” will have on the Church and the world, mercy must be at the core. Laws and boundaries have been set by the Creator Himself, who then he commissioned his disciples to promulgate his law. His grace dictates that it be administered with sincerity but not with perfection. Those gifted with the authority to implement God’s law shall do so with a human heart.
The one thing the pope made very clear is that definitive answers to the tough questions facing families and the Church will not be forthcoming from the hierarchy so they remained to be pondered by the human heart, where mercy is the best remedy.
