The last two posts focused on the salvation of souls as the absolute guiding principle of canon law. This salvation of souls emerges from God’s mercy. Hence, today’s post explores mercy (ebere in Igbo language) as an integral part of canon law.
‘Chi di ebere’ is a complete sentence in the Igbo language with two similar meanings depending on where the word stress lies and the diacritical mark. When the stress lies in ‘Chi’ (God) and the word ‘dị’ with a diacritical mark below ‘i’ (which means ‘that is’), the sentence means ‘the God that is merciful’, better translated into the English phrase as ‘the merciful God’. However, when the stress lies only in the ‘di’ without a diacritical mark below ‘i’(which means ‘is’), it translates into the sentence ‘God is merciful’.
The famous biblical quotation on the Lord’s mercy reads: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8). The forgiveness dimension appears in two places and reads: “The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Exodus 34:8; Numbers 14:8).
This divine mercy is at the heart of the salvation of souls because God’s desire not to destroy the world again with flood (Gen 9:11) and to save the world from sin and death through the death of his Son (Rom 5:8) flow from his abundant mercies.
Before sending his Son, God had spoken through the prophets many times and in many ways—a manifestation of His forbearance, love and mercy (Heb 1:1-2). Since God finally sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, out of love and mercy for humanity irrespective of humanity’s sins (John 3:16), God’s mercy is indispensable in the salvific mission of Christ. Although the wages of sin is death, God’s free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23). God’s mercy is even more manifest because Christ died for us while we were sinners (Rom 5:8), and Christ was obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:8). Indeed, God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Rom 8:32).
Therefore, in line with his salvific mission, Christ established the Church, his Mystical Body, with the “immediate and natural purpose of saving of souls and securing our happiness in heaven” (Immortale Dei, 1). This goal is “strictly religious” aimed at leading humans to God so that they give themselves fully to Him and find perfect inner peace in Him (Pope Pius XII’s 1956 address to archaeologists and artists); “that God’s kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass” (Gaudium et Spes, 45). This goal is also aimed at responding to the word of God (Dei Verbum, 8), accepting the grace of the sacraments (Mystici Corporis Christi, 18), and living in fellowship (Lumen Gentium, 13).
This implies that all the Church’s activities, including all canonical norms, must directly or indirectly contribute to this goal. It also means that the primary purpose of canon law is to help the Church carry out its mission in the world, namely, promoting the salvation of souls.
If the salvation of souls stems from divine mercy, and the Church, to whom it is entrusted the continuation of Christ’s saving work, has the salvation of souls as its primary purpose and the absolute guiding principle of its laws, it means that mercy is an intrinsic part of canon law. Chi di ebere.
Although the theme of mercy is incorporated in making laws, it is more evident in interpreting and applying canonical norms, leading to the mutual interpenetration between justice and mercy. The harmony between justice and mercy has long been of concern among theologians and jurists. Gratian’s Decree states: “Everyone who judges justly carries a balance in his hand; in both scales he carries justice and mercy; but by justice he renders sentence to sins, by mercy he moderates the punishment of sin, so that by a just balance he corrects some through equity, and indulges others through mercy.” The heading of this text reads: “One judging justly serves mercy with justice” (Iuste iudicans misericordiam cum iustitia servat) (D. 45, c. 10).
St. Thomas Aquinas, after having explained that God’s mercy in forgiving offences does not contradict His justice but goes beyond and above justice, concludes that “Mercy does not weaken justice, but is the perfection of justice”(Misericordia non tollit iustitiam, sed est quædam iustitiæ plenitudo, (Summa Theologiæ, I, q. 21, a. 3 ad 2). In another instance, Thomas argues that “justice without mercy is cruelty; but mercy without justice, dissolution” (Iustitia sine misericordia crudelitas est; misericordia sine iustitia, dissolutio) (Catena Aurea Gospel of Matthew, Cap 5, Lectio 5). This implies that creating and maintaining social order and achieving and maintaining communion requires justice and mercy.
The centrality of mercy in canon law is also seen in the third principle in the revision of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which states: “To foster the pastoral care of souls as much as possible, the new law, besides the virtue of justice, is to take cognisance of charity, temperance, humaneness and moderation, whereby equity is to be pursued not only in the application of the laws by pastors of souls, but also in the legislation itself.”
This harmony between justice and mercy when applying the law is codified in the last canon of the 1983 Code. While using the transfer of parish priests as an instance, the Code affirms that provisions of the law are to be applied, “always observing canonical equity and keeping in mind the salvation of souls, which in the Church must always be the supreme law” (Can. 1752). In his 1973 speech to the Roman Rota, Pope Paul VI defines canonical equity (aequitas canonica) using the words of the great medieval canonist Hostiensis as “justice tempered with the sweetness of mercy”. He continues that canonical equity manifests in the quality of laws, the norms of their application, and the attitude of spirit and soul that tempers the rigours of the law.
Therefore, law and mercy are not opposites, but are deeply connected. The salvation of souls (salus animarum), as the purpose of canon law, finds in canonical equity (aequitas canonica) a legal tool to realise this goal. Hence, mercy is seen in the relationship between canonical equity and the salvation of souls. In his 1990 speech to the Roman Rota, Pope John Paul II reaffirms the harmony between justice and mercy in applying the law, especially when it concerns treating cases of the validity of the matrimonial bond.
The misinterpretation of the relationship of the interpenetration between justice and mercy fuelled “a climate of excessive laxity in the application of criminal law, in the name of an unfounded opposition between pastoral care and law, and criminal law in particular.” This misinterpretation was at the heart of the revision of Book VI (Penal Sanctions in the Church) of the 1983 Code. Hence, the revised Book VI (2021) emphasises that imposition or declaration of penalties must be done according to the provisions of the law, “which are always to be applied with canonical equity and having in mind the restoration of justice, the reform of the offender, and the repair of scandal” (Can. 1311 §2).
Therefore, divine mercy, which engenders the salvation of souls, is at the heart of how canonical norms are made and interpreted—an integral dimension of the spirituality of canon law. Chi di ebere.
As this is a new journey, criticisms and recommendations will be helpful. Kindly reach me on WhatsApp or through email: chidiebere.obiodu@existentialtheology.com
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
Excellent comment here: “This implies that all the Church’s activities, including all canonical norms, must directly or indirectly contribute to this goal.” For this reason, church activities should not be watered down as it the custom in some places in order to attract people who would not ordinarily attend church. We cannot fulfill God’s mandate with a diluted form of His methods.
Can. 1311 §2 is also important and should guide us not only in church matters, but it informs us about personal matters where we feel the need for vindication. Our desire should be that the offender repents and is restored so that they are ultimately right with God.
Thank you for reading.
Indeed, “we cannot fulfill God’s mandate with a diluted form of His methods”. This is the challenge today. Saving the individual is utmost in the Church. Unfortunately, while this is the purpose of church law alongside maintaning order and discipline within the Church, societal (secular) laws have only the maintenance of order and disciple as its goal.