"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." These people without possessions, these strangers, these powerless, these sinners, these followers of Jesus live with him now in the renunciation of their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own need and lack were not enough, they share in other people's need. They have an irresistible love for the lowly, the sick, for those who are in misery, for those who are demeaned and abused, for those who suffer injustice and are rejected, for everyone in pain and anxiety.
They seek out all those who have fallen into sin and guilt. No need is too great, no sin is too dreadful for mercy to reach….They know only one dignity, and honour, the mercy of their Lord which is their only source of life….This is the mercy of Jesus, from which those who follow him wish to live, the mercy of the crucified one.
Blessed are the merciful for they shall have the merciful one as their Lord."
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Works, Volume 4, pages 106-7.)
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