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Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI
This revised edition takes you on a tour of Divine Mercy throughout salvation history, through the Old and New Testaments, in the writings of the Church's great theologians, and in the lives and writings of the saints down through the ages. In this revised edition, Dr. Stackpole expands his chapter on the great theologian St. Augustine, includes a new chapter on the spiritual master St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and highlights the involvement of Pope Benedict XVI at the first World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in 2008.
- GenresCatholic
275 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2008
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33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 1, 2015
If you’re familiar with Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul and have wondered about this ‘new’ private revelation and how the church could have embraced it so completely, this is the book you need to read.
Dr. Robert Stackpole has written a sweeping but by no means exhaustive review of God’s incredible mercy as revealed in Sacred Scripture and further elaborated on by Church Fathers and Doctors.
The point being—nothing in St. Faustina’s Diary is really new. The mercy of God always has been and always will be. It’s just that our human understanding is finally catching up to the magnitude of God’s mercy, or at least it can, where souls are ready to receive the message.
Reading Professor Stackpole's book left me feeling extremely encouraged as well as closer than ever to my brothers and sisters-in-Christ, not to mention my reading list has just grown by another dozen or so books. (Well I could have done without that!) Some of these amazing spiritual giants were: Sts. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Francis of Assisi, John Eudes, Margaret Mary Alacoque, Alphonsus Liguori, Thérèse of Lisieux, Maria Faustina Kowalska, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
In Divine Mercy A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI Stackpole is at pains to stress that those who desire justice over mercy will not be denied. Neither will those who refuse God altogether. God does not force Himself or His mercy on anyone. Yet for those seeking mercy and equally generous in bestowing it on others, they can be assured of finding it in Him.
Despair of His mercy is the only unforgiveable sin. It is the offense of considering one’s sin as greater than God the Father’s mercy.
‘No one can turn to God for saving help or do anything at all toward salvation unless prompted, strengthened and assisted to do so every step of the way by God’s grace. On the other hand, God’s saving grace is not irresistible. He certainly enables our response of faith and love to Him, but He never compels that response.’ p.105
The virtue of mercy has two aspects: “affective” and “effective”. Affective mercy is an emotion: the pity we feel for the plight of another. In this respect, human mercy may be said to be grounded in a “defect” in our nature: the defect of human vulnerability to suffering. We feel pity for those who suffer because we, too, are subject to such miseries. Effective mercy on the other hand is something that we do, a positive action for the good of another, taking steps to relieve the miseries or meet the needs of others.
God is more properly merciful than punitive. Drawing from the distinction made by St. John Damascene between God's “antecedent” and “consequent” will. Antecedently, that is, from all eternity, God’s will “before the foundation of the world” is to make us all His adopted children and sharers of His divine life. His antecedent will is that ‘all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:4)
God’s consequent will, however, is what He wills as a response to the choices made by His human creatures. He gave human beings the freedom to reject His love and spurn His mercy. Even in His consequent will, Divine Mercy at least tempers Divine Justice.
According to Professor Stackpole God’s mercy reaches even into hell itself where He has tempered the punishment.
There are two other books by this author but unfortunately they are not currently available or I would be ordering them.
Excellent! Highly recommended!
Dr. Robert Stackpole has written a sweeping but by no means exhaustive review of God’s incredible mercy as revealed in Sacred Scripture and further elaborated on by Church Fathers and Doctors.
The point being—nothing in St. Faustina’s Diary is really new. The mercy of God always has been and always will be. It’s just that our human understanding is finally catching up to the magnitude of God’s mercy, or at least it can, where souls are ready to receive the message.
Reading Professor Stackpole's book left me feeling extremely encouraged as well as closer than ever to my brothers and sisters-in-Christ, not to mention my reading list has just grown by another dozen or so books. (Well I could have done without that!) Some of these amazing spiritual giants were: Sts. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Francis of Assisi, John Eudes, Margaret Mary Alacoque, Alphonsus Liguori, Thérèse of Lisieux, Maria Faustina Kowalska, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
In Divine Mercy A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI Stackpole is at pains to stress that those who desire justice over mercy will not be denied. Neither will those who refuse God altogether. God does not force Himself or His mercy on anyone. Yet for those seeking mercy and equally generous in bestowing it on others, they can be assured of finding it in Him.
Despair of His mercy is the only unforgiveable sin. It is the offense of considering one’s sin as greater than God the Father’s mercy.
‘No one can turn to God for saving help or do anything at all toward salvation unless prompted, strengthened and assisted to do so every step of the way by God’s grace. On the other hand, God’s saving grace is not irresistible. He certainly enables our response of faith and love to Him, but He never compels that response.’ p.105
The virtue of mercy has two aspects: “affective” and “effective”. Affective mercy is an emotion: the pity we feel for the plight of another. In this respect, human mercy may be said to be grounded in a “defect” in our nature: the defect of human vulnerability to suffering. We feel pity for those who suffer because we, too, are subject to such miseries. Effective mercy on the other hand is something that we do, a positive action for the good of another, taking steps to relieve the miseries or meet the needs of others.
God is more properly merciful than punitive. Drawing from the distinction made by St. John Damascene between God's “antecedent” and “consequent” will. Antecedently, that is, from all eternity, God’s will “before the foundation of the world” is to make us all His adopted children and sharers of His divine life. His antecedent will is that ‘all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:4)
God’s consequent will, however, is what He wills as a response to the choices made by His human creatures. He gave human beings the freedom to reject His love and spurn His mercy. Even in His consequent will, Divine Mercy at least tempers Divine Justice.
According to Professor Stackpole God’s mercy reaches even into hell itself where He has tempered the punishment.
There are two other books by this author but unfortunately they are not currently available or I would be ordering them.
Excellent! Highly recommended!
September 7, 2020
A very clear and faithful exposition of the meaning of Divine Mercy vis-a-vis Divine Justice throughout the history of the Church. It was inspiring and gave me hope as I read it in these troubled times where hope can easily be lost.
Want to read
August 23, 2009Thank you, Linda, for the recommendation!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews