Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, "price paid, wages", from merc-, merx "merchandise") can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power (e.g. mercy shown by a judge toward a convict), on the part of a humanitarian third party (e.g. a mission of mercy aiming to treat war victims) or divine mercy shown to the penitent.[1] Mercy is a word used to describe compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing. Some of the earliest recorded expressions of divine mercy are found in Ancient Egyptian literature.[2] One of the basic virtues of chivalry, Christian ethics, Islam, and Judaism, it is also related to concepts of justice and morality in behaviour between people.
In a legal sense, a defendant having been found guilty of a capital crime may ask for clemency from being executed.
To be "mercy", the behavior generally can not be compelled by outside forces. (A famous literary example is from The Merchant of Venice when Portia asks Shylock to show mercy. He asks, On what compulsion, must I? She responds:
A number of organizations (e.g. the Mercy Corps, the Sisters of Mercy, Mercyful Fate and the Temple of Mercy and Charity) use the word "mercy" in their name to describe their work.
Ethicist Jacob Appel has noted a decline of mercy, and a comcommittant increase in retribunion, in American public life. Appel has written:
One of the glaring -- yet too often overlooked -- failings of contemporary America is that we have become a nation obsessed with justice and retribution. We claim to be The Land of the Free, yet we have lost sight of what it means to be imprisoned: denied liberty and access to one's family, subjected to isolation and violence and unspeakable boredom. We have come to believe, in the most pernicious way, that people should get what they deserve. What a sea change it might be in our public discourse and our civic life if we focused instead upon mercy and forgiveness. A merciful and forgiving culture might find itself with less anger, less social disruption, and even less crime.[3]
Mercy is the quality of showing restraint againt those whom one has the power to punish.
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Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).
| Mercy disambiguation |
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MERCY (adapted from Fr. merci, Lat. merces, reward), compassion, pardon, pity or forgiveness. The Latin word was used in the early Christian ages for the reward that is given in heaven to those who have shown kindness without hope of return. The French word, except in such phrases as Dieu merci, sans merci, is principally used in the sense of "thanks," and is seen in the old English expression "gramercy," i.e. grant merci, great, many thanks, which Johnson took for "grant me mercy." In the medieval Church there were seven "corporal" and seven "spiritual works of mercy" (opera misericordiae); these were (a) the giving of food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, the clothing of the naked, the visitation of the sick and of prisoners, the receiving of strangers, and the burial of the dead; (b) the conversion of sinners, teaching of the ignorant, giving of counsel to the doubtful, forgiveness of injuries, patience under wrong, prayer for the living and for the dead. The order of the Sisters of Mercy is a religious sisterhood of the Roman Church. It is found chiefly in England and Ireland, but there are branches in the United States of America, in South America and in Australia and New Zealand. It was founded in 1827 in Dublin by Miss Catherine McAuley (1787-1841). The object was to perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
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Plural |
Mercy
compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning
sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the
exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the
demands of truth and righteousness (Gen 19:19; Ex 20:6; 34:6, 7; Ps 8510; 86:15, 16). In Christ mercy and truth meet
together. Mercy is also a Christian grace (Mt 5:7; 18:33-35).
what mentions this? (please help by turning references to this page into wiki links)
Mercy can refer both to a compassionate behavior on the part of those in power (for example, mercy shown by a judge toward a criminal by not punishing them as much as they might be punished) or on the part of a compassionate third party (e.g. a trip out of mercy trying to treat sick children in Africa). The word is very common in several religions (for example, the mercy of God).
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