Eyes of Mercy
“I’ll take his place.”
— St. Maximilian Kolbe, Catholic priest, Auschiwitz
St. Maximilian Kolbe offered his life as a sacrifice to save a fellow prisoner. German officers, looking for relentless retribution for three escaped prisoners missing from roll call, chose 10 prisoners to starve in an underground cell. Father Kolbe volunteered to replace Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Jewish father of two sons. Kolbe convinced the guards that as a priest he had no family to mourn him.
The officers accepted the substitution and confined them to the “hunger bunker”. To offer consolation, Father Kolbe led the captives in prayers and hymns. After ten days without food or water, Father Kolbe and three others remained alive. A Nazi physician then killed them by lethal injection. Father Kolbe’s act did more than atone for the escape, it was an act of compassionate mercy. Father Kolbe laid down his life for his neighbor, a reflection of Christ’s taking the place of sinners on the Cross.
Both Kolbe and Christ had eyes of mercy. From the death camp, Kolbe saw a fellow prisoner who was loved by his family. From the Cross, Christ sees a people in need of more than forgiveness. In His compassion, He sees everything we need to love and be loved by Love itself. What does Jesus’ gaze convey?
His look of longing shows us that he desires to be united with us. From conception, Jesus consented to become like us, complete in His humanity, without losing His divinity. He became one of us, to become one with us. He desires an eternal embrace with us where His love is received as it is offered, without limits. Open your arms to embrace Him freely as He freely accepted being nailed to a cross for you.
His look of compassion shows that He wants to mend our brokenness. He knows the very hairs on your head, He calls you by name. In sacred intimacy, He knows every pain you suffer. As long as we have faith, He desires to heal us according to His will. Like Jesus’ prayer during the Agony in the Garden, bear in mind that our desires do not always align with His. Any suffering that remains can be offered to Him as a sacrifice to unite souls to Him. That’s exactly what Jesus did on the cross.
His look of suffering shows that He will stop at nothing to love us. He is faithful to His promises to the end. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). It would be easier to die for someone who loves you in return, like a bridegroom defending his bride. But Jesus kept His promise on behalf of sinners including those who betrayed Him. As Paul reminds us in Romans 5:8, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
His look of patience shows that He will wait for us. He knows where we hold back, where we continue to cling to idols, where we cave repeatedly to temptation. But, He also knows how we will progress towards Him. He sees how we will become, and He waits for our own salvation story to unfold. Jesus’ eyes of mercy gaze upon us and see what will be.
As you strive for deeper prayer, today ask Jesus to help you see yourself and others with eyes of mercy. Amen.
For more information on the meaning of mercy, see “What Does Divine Mercy Really Mean” by Robert Stackpole, STD.
