Merciful beatitude is found in Jesus Christ, and one of the best ways to build up that relationship with him and live an upright life is to contemplate his Sacred Humanity. From this contemplation we learn how to act in a morally upright manner, while falling in love with God-man who “loved us to the end.”
It is easier to relate to a God who becomes a needy little child like you and I were. We can easily approach him, hug and kiss him, and respond to his needs. It is easier to relate to a person who is human like us, hungry and thirsty, and tired enough to sleep through a storm in the boat. We can also relate to Jesus, who also was frustrated with his followers for their lack of faith (see Matthew 17:17) or for arguing about who was the greatest (Matthew 18:1-4). He also experienced the rejection of family (Luke 4:16-30) and the betrayal by a close friend, Judas, whom he loved.
Contemplating these Gospel scenes helps us know that we are not alone in our suffering, that Jesus understands us and is suffering alongside us. It also helps us share his sufferings, comfort him, and let him know that he is not alone.
To develop a good relationship with Jesus, it also helps to strive to have the same sentiments as he did, to have compassion on the crowd, as Pope Francis reminds us:
Jesus, seeing the crowds of people who followed him, realized that they were tired and exhausted, lost and without a guide, and he felt deep compassion for them (see Matthew 9:36). On the basis of this compassionate love, he healed the sick who were presented to him (see Matthew 14:14), and with just a few loaves of bread and fish he satisfied the enormous crowd (see Matthew 15:37). What moved Jesus in all of these situations was nothing other than mercy, with which he read the hearts of those he encountered and responded to their deepest need. When he came upon the widow of Nain taking her son out for burial, he felt great compassion for the immense suffering of this grieving mother, and he gave back her son by raising him from the dead (see Luke 7:15). After freeing the demoniac in the country of the Gerasenes, Jesus entrusted him with this mission: “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19) (Misericordiae Vultus, 8).
In this way we begin to become one heart and one mind with the love of our lives, and to become more united to our heavenly Father who calls us to be merciful as he is merciful (Luke 6:36). Like Jesus, we will acquire the face of mercy (Misericordiae Vultus, 1) by experiencing his merciful gaze. We also can turn to the examples and intercessions of the saints, who have lived out this identification with Christ’s humanity and make it even more real in our lives. They show us how to find and experience Christ in those needing mercy, thus bonding us to the ultimate source of all happiness.
Happy father’s day to all dads!