Greater Man’s Emptiness, Greater God’s Reaching Out
My God … infinitely communicable mercy! Because you are infinite goodness, you love to communicate yourself infinitely. The greater the misery the more you communicate yourself … I firmly believe that you will communicate to me all the merits, virtues and works of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. (OOCC, X, pp. 363, 366; STA, 391)
St. Vincent experienced God as the infinite goodness. Goodness cannot contain itself and by its very nature, it is overflowing. Therefore, God, as infinite goodness, communicates himself infinitely. St. Vincent often refers to God as ‘infinitely communicable mercy’ because the greater the emptiness of the person, the greater is God’s reaching out to him. The greater the misery in which one finds oneself, the greater are the communications from God. Just as the wind blows towards a place without air, similarly, the goodness of God communicates itself in a marvelous way to a person who is spiritually weak and needs the assurances of God. St. Vincent Pallotti believed that God the Father would communicate to him all the merits, virtues and works of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he was ‘nothing and sin.’ Because of such communications from God, St. Vincent could respond to him with genuine love.
Do I believe that God is “the incommunicable mercy?” Do I believe that God communicates adequately to the spiritually weak? Is it true that the ‘greater the emptiness of a person, the greater the communications of God?’
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groaning. (Rom. 8: 26)