Prayer And Mercy

Apostoli: Obsecro vos per misericordiam Dei, etc. Mira pietas, quae ut precetur, ut largiatur, exorat. Hodie namque beatus Apostolus non humana petenes, sed divina conferens, sic precatur: Obsecro vos, per misericordiam Dei. Medicus austeria remediae cum recipere persuadet aegrotos, agit preceibus, non compelllit imprerio, sciens infirmitatis, non voluntatis esse, quod salutaria respuit, quoties profutura repellit, infirmus. Et filium pater non potestate, sed amore ad rigorem pretrahit, disciplinae, non ignorans quam sit aspera immaturis sensibus disciplina. Et si corporalis infirmitas ad curam prceibus sic movetur, et si sic puerilis animus vix ad prudentiam ducitur blandimentis, quid mirum si Apostolus, qui semper est et meidcus et pater, humanas mentes morbis carnalibus sauciatas, ut ad remedia divina subrigat, sic precatur: Obsecro vos, per misericordiam Dei. Novum genus obsecrationis inducit. Quare non per virtutem? quare non per majestatem, non per gloriam Dei, sed per misericordiam Dei? Quia per ipsam solam Paulus et crimen persecutoris evasit, et apostolatus tanti adeptus est dignitatem: sicut ipse fatetur, dicens: Qui prius fui blasphemus et persecutor: et injuriosus, sed misericordiam Dei consecutus sum: Et iterum: Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus: quia Christus in hunc mundum venit peccatores salvos facere quorum primus ego sum, sed misericordiam sum consecutus, ad exemplum omnium, qui credituri sunt illi in vitam aeternam. Obsecro, inquit, vos per misericordiam Dei. Rogat Pauus, immo per Paulum rogat Deus, quia plus amari bult quam timeri. Rogat Deus quia non tam Dominus esse vult quam pater. Rogat Deus per misericordiam, ne vindicet per rigorem. Audi rogantem Dominum: Tota die, inquit, expandi manus meas. Nonne qui expandit manus ipse habitu rogat? Expandu manus meas. Ad quem? ad populum. Et ad quem populum? Non tantum non credentem, sed contradicentem. Expandi manus meas. Distendit membra, dilatat viscera, pectus porrigit, offert sinum, gemium pandit, ut patrem se tantae obsecrationis demonstret affectu. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo Sermo CVIII Source: Migne PL 52.499a-c

The Apostle says: 'I beg you by the mercy of God...' 1 Wondrous is the piety that pleads that it pray, that it give. For today the blessed Apostle does not seek human things, but bearing Divine things, so prays: 'I beg you by the mercy of God.' A physician, when he would have the sick receive a bitter medicine, pleads with them; he does not compel by command, knowing the unwillingness of their infirmity, that it will spit out salvation, as many times as weakness revolts at what benefits. And a father does not attract a son to the rigours of discipline by power but by love, aware that discipline is bitter to the immature mind. And if bodily infirmity is so moved to a cure by pleas, and if a youth's soul is led to prudence by blandishments, why wonder if the Apostle, who is always a physician and father, so prepares wounded souls for the Divine medicine as is done with bodily sickness, and so prays: 'I beg you by the mercy of God.' He introduces a new type of prayer. Why not by virtue? Why not by the majesty and the glory of God, but by the mercy of God? Because by that alone Paul escaped the crime of the persecutor and was made worthy of the Apostolic dignity. So he admits, saying: 'I who was once a blasphemer and persecutor and harmful, but the mercy of God came upon me.' And again: 'Faithful is the word and worthy of all reception, because Christ came into this world to save sinners, of which I was the foremost, but His mercy came upon me, to be an example to all, who shall be believers in Him unto eternal life.' 2 'I beg you,' he says, 'by the mercy of God.' Paul asks, or rather God asks through Paul, because He wishes to be loved more than feared. God asks because He wishes not so much to be a 'lord' as to be a father. God asks through mercy, that he not strike with severity. Hear the request of the Lord: 'All day,' He says, 'I have opened my hands.' 3 And is it not that he who opens his hand adopts the form of requesting? 'I opened my hands.' To whom? To the people. And to which people? Not only to those who believe but to those who do not. I opened my hands, I stretched out my arms, I exposed my chest, I offered my heart, I gave my lap, I released my groans, that He show Himself by such a prayer to have the love of a father. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 108 1 Rom 12.1 2 1 Tim 1.13-16 3 Isaiah 65.2