Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

18 irstly, I would like to thank KAICIID for this generous invitation to talk about the concept of mercy in the Holy Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, the concept of mercy is there for everybody who searches for it and is evident in four principle concepts. The first is mercy present in the liturgy and in church prayer. Every time the preacher says a prayer in church, the people say: “Oh God have mercy,” because, in Chris- tian belief, the liturgy and the prayer are a source of divine mercy. In the Orthodox Church, there is a special prayer about this which is called The Prayer of Jesus or The Heart’s Prayer, where the believer is so absorbed by the prayer that he is unified with God. The words of the prayer are: “Oh my God, Jesus Christ, please forgive me, I am the sinner.” This is also a place for the mercy of God, accompanied by the act of kneeling, which itself is an act of prayer. HH Pope Francis has reminded us that the act of kneeling is a gesture that echoes the foetus position in the mother’s womb, the idea of being reborn in the noble and divine mercy of God. So, this new mercy is a return of the people to the image that God has wanted for us since creation. Divine mercy versus human mercy. Divine mercy in the Chris- tian tradition stems from the principle that God shows mercy to all people through Jesus Christ. When Paul says that Jesus has reconciled humanity with God it is because God has sent Jesus Christ among humankind. But when we talk about the relationship between God and people, we use the word love instead of the word mercy because, in mercy, there is one that offers mercy and one who receives the act of mercy, but with love we are unique. God has elevated us in love and made us His children, so the message of Christianity prevails by the message “Christians are called upon to reconcile with all peoples of the world” His Grace The Right Reverend Bishop Elias Toumeh F THE FOUNDAT IONS OF MERCY