The mercy It is the feeling that is produced in a human being when knowing the need or lack of another and that leads him to take actions to help him. It is a supportive disposition that implies other qualities such as generosity, kindness and understanding. For example: a teacher who sees that one of his students is having a hard time learning a lesson and spends extra time explaining to him.
Mercy is a word that comes from the union of three Latin words: misere (‘need or misery’), cordis (‘heart’) and ia (‘towards others’). In a literal sense, it expresses seeing the need of others and, based on the impact it has on the heart, lending oneself to others.
The term mercy should not be confused with pity. The first refers to a mobilization for the understanding of the hardship of another person and that can be identified with one’s own experiences in life. Pity, on the other hand, is a more fleeting sensation whose center is the person from whom it is detached, not the need itself.
Characteristics of a merciful person
- Generosity. You are a generous person who has no problem offering your own resources to ease the sorrows of others.
- Sensitivity. He is a sensitive person who can detect when someone is going through a conflict, even if their pain or tragedy is not visible.
- Solidarity. He is a little selfish person whose disposition towards others reflects a lesser concern for his own circumstances and his way of living to stop and observe the way of living of others.
- Charity. He is a charitable person, who finds satisfaction in being an instrument so that those around him have a better life.
types of mercy
The works of mercy can be of two types:
- bodily. Referring to the physical needs of others. For example: help an elderly person carry grocery bags.
- spiritual. Referring to internal situations of the human being. For example: Accompany a relative who is going through a duel for the death of a loved one.
examples of mercy
- Give food to someone who lives on the street.
- Helping out with college bills for a friend who’s going through a rough patch.
- Comfort a family member who has suffered a recent loss.
- Accompany a widow who is going through a duel.
- Volunteer at a community kitchen.
- Donate clothes to a family that lives in street conditions.
- Render assistance to a passerby who has fainted.
- Reading to an elderly person in a residence.
- Rescue and care for an abandoned animal.
- Receiving a family member who has lost all their assets in their own home.
- Help in a collection of money to buy food and take it to a low-income neighborhood.
- Build houses for homeless families.
- Donate money to a foundation that is responsible for educating children.
- Contribute money to eradicate hunger in African countries.
- Participate in a campaign to collect toys for children in orphanages at Christmas time.
- Comfort a friend who is depressed.
- Spend an afternoon with a relative who is hospitalized after an operation.
- Give encouragement to a close person who has undergone highly complex surgery.
- Offer money, shelter and food to people in need.
- Put yourself in the shoes of a person who has lost their job and supports their entire family.
- Volunteer in the oncology ward at a hospital.
- Keeping an elderly person who lives alone company.
- Help with childcare for a single mother who works all day.
- Spend time teaching young children to read.
- Organize fundraisers for social causes.
- Execute strategies to recycle and conserve the environment.
- Give a lift to a driver who has been stranded in the middle of the road.
- Share the umbrella with someone when it is raining.
- Help from the heart without expecting anything in return.
- Forgive a friend who has made a mistake and has regretted it.
- Encourage a family member in a presentation when they are too nervous to do so.
- Comfort a close person when they have failed in a work project.
- Invite an acquaintance who has gone through a difficult divorce for a walk.
- Offer to pay for a vacation to the family of an employee who has no resources.
- Give permission to a foreign worker to travel to see his family at Christmas parties.
- Sponsor a low-income child or who lives in an orphanage.
- Cheer up a student who has done poorly on an exam at school and feels upset.
- Financially help a brother who has declared bankruptcy.
- Share an evening listening to people who have gone through traumatic experiences.
- Help a friend prepare for a job interview for which you feel extremely anxious.
- Being kind to a family member who is waiting for the results of a medical exam.
- Bring food to a person who is bedridden.
- Helping an elderly neighbor with errands who has difficulty leaving his apartment.
- Offer to push a wheelchair for someone on the street.
- Helping a person with three young children load the groceries in the car.
- Collaborate with a coworker’s tasks when overloaded.
- Guide a blind person when they have to go out to do a bank transaction.
- Help grandparents request medical appointments online.
- Comfort a child who has fallen in the park.
- Have a generous heart for those who ask for help.
It can help you: