Traditional Catholic Moral Theology treats mercy as the virtue that inclines us to offer assistance to a person who is suffering from want or misery. Mercy is not love but a result of it, it reaches down to lift others out of their physical or spiritual miseries. Mercy is not a grace that comes cheap nor does it imply the trivialization of evil. Mercy is the result of God’s infinite and eternal love that is active at work towards mankind. The Council of Trent quotes the gospel text read today as the basis for the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession as it is the throne of Divine Mercy and not a torture chamber for sinners as Pope Francis would say. It is there that God never tires of forgiving. Mercy is the compassion in our hearts for the misery of the other. It is a compassion that drives us to do what we can to help them. Divine Mercy is where God reaches out to us in His eternal love in our need and brokenness. Whatever need or misery we suffer from, He is there to help us. May we always help others as He helped us.