“Paradoxically, the mercy that we are asking for is exactly this: the strength and the clean joy to do as He did, to empty ourselves to the farthest extreme out of love for others. The mercy we ask for, you see, is nothing less than a share in Christ’s own anointing by his Father – the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him. When that hits us, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the sweet longing to do what Christ also did in that anointing, which was to suffer for the life of the world.”