Portia’s famous speech in "The Merchant of Venice" is the best, and best-known, evocation of the quality of mercy in the entire canon of literature, and is also the perfect curtain-raiser to the whole topic. The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It [...]
Just as a physical remedy is a real gift to one who has brought some infirmity upon himself, so too is penance a mercy to the one who has sinned. “Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian…” We hear the names of these early Christian martyrs every time that Eucharistic Prayer I is used at Mass, [...]
Throughout the Middle Ages, to cherish and respect sanctuary was seen as the sign of a pious and powerful ruler. This was not some arbitrary custom, but an extension of the love and logic of the family into the world at large. Now if sanctuary seems unreasonable to moderns, it cannot be because we think [...]