Mercy for the Merciful

There seems to be an abrupt change when we come to this fifth Beatitude. The first four quite clearly deal with what goes on in the soul of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven. He is poor in spirit, mourns over sin, is meek and hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Now we read of him as being merciful. And indeed there is a difference here between this Beatitude and the four that preceded it. Although it is not an abrupt and unusual change, there is this difference that we deal here with an...