Clifford Longley (9 August), following Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, doesn’t see what mercy has to do with finding a solution to the predicament of divorced and remarried Catholics. And yet he refers to the work of canon law tribunals, which presumably are attempting to dispense justice (though admittedly he doesn’t use the word). Timothy McDermott’s concise translation of the Summa Theologiae of St Thomas Aquinas puts it this way: “Mercy does not oppose justice, but fills it out. God’s justice is based on his mercy … Mercy starts all God’s works and grows in all that follows, God always giving beyond the measure of a creature’s due.” So if we are trying to be just to everyone
14 August 2014, The Tablet
Marriage and mercy
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