Pope Francis said: “The Word of God teaches us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). That is why the fifth Beatitude declares that the merciful are blessed. We know that the Lord loved us first. But we will be truly blessed and happy only when we enter into the divine ‘logic’ of gift and gracious love, when we discover that God has loved us infinitely in order to make us capable of loving like Him, without measure. Saint John says: ‘Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love... In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another’” (1 Jn 4:7-11). When we extend mercy to others we are reflecting our gratitude to God for his gratuitous mercy to us. We are only giving what we have personally received. And in doing so, we open ourselves to God’s further mercy.