Once again seeing what someone else was reading on GoodReads has led me to pick up a book I never would have thought of before. The book The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis stuck me as an opportunity to learn a bit more about the Catholic view of mercy.

My father grew up Catholic but we never went to church when growing up so my own religious education didn’t really happen until I took it upon myself.  During my teen years, I investigated the beliefs and practices of many sects – Catholic, Baptist, Jehovah’s Witness, Lutheran, Methodist, Mormon, Judaism and others.

My exposure to Catholicism hasn’t been too in-depth so I figured this might be some interesting insight. It was.

While there are some aspect I don’t agree with, I am touched by the words of Pope Francis. His focus on mercy is a welcome read because this is something that is so needed in society today. He does a great job of explaining that as we are here to learn to be more Christlike, first among his qualities is mercy.

Understanding mercy and building it into our character can do more to help us in that development than anything else. Whether you practice physical, emotional or spiritual mercy with those around you, it is what you will be judged by in the final days. Pope Francis says it well in the title, The Name of God is Mercy.

by Chris Doelle

[amazon_link asins=’0399588639′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’internatio05d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7b4c054f-a173-11e7-ba6e-017ca6d18c1a’]