By St. Cyril of Alexandria
(Excerpts from Sermon 29 on the Gospel of Luke)
6:31. As ye wish that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them.
It was probable however that the holy apostles would perchance think
these things difficult to put into practice: He therefore Who knows all things takes the natural law of self-love as the arbiter of what any
one would wish to obtain from another. Show yourselfself, He says, to others
such as you wish them to be towards you. If you would have
them be harsh and unfeeling, fierce and wrathful, revengeful and
ill-disposed, show yourself also such, but if on the contrary you
would have them be kind and forgiving, do not think it a thing
intolerable to be yourself so. And in the case of those so disposed, the
law is perchance unnecessary, because God writes upon our hearts the
knowledge of His will: "for in those days, saith the Lord, I will surely
give My laws into their mind, and will write them on their heart."
6:36. Be ye therefore merciful.
Great is the glory of compassion, and so verily it is written, that
"man is a great thing, and the merciful man an honorable thing." For
virtue restores us to the likeness of God, and imprints on our souls certain
characters as it were of the supreme nature.