5132. 'And show, I beg you, mercy to me' means the reception of charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'mercy' as love, dealt with in 3063, 3073, 3120, 5042, in this case love towards the neighbour, which is charity, since the reception of faith is spoken of above in 5130; for on the level of the senses, when these are born again, faith and charity must make one. The reason 'mercy' means charity is that all who have charity have mercy, that is, all who love their neighbour are merciful towards him. This also explains why the Word describes the practice of charity as acts of mercy, as in Matthew,

I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to me. Matthew 25:35-36.

And in other places the practice of charity is described as acts of mercy done to the poor, the afflicted, widows, and orphans.

[2] Charity consists essentially in desiring the welfare of one's neighbour, in having an affection for what is good, and in acknowledging that since what is good is one's neighbour, those who are governed by good are consequently one's neighbour, but varyingly so, depending on the amount of good that governs the individual person. Therefore since charity consists in having an affection for what is good, it also consists in feelings of mercy for those in distress. The good of charity holds such feelings within it because it comes down from the Lord's love towards the whole human race, a love which is 'mercy' because the whole human race is in distress. Mercy sometimes seems to exist among the evil who have no charity. But this is a case of pain because of their own suffering; for it consists in a concern for friends whom they identify with themselves, and when those friends suffer, they suffer too. This kind of mercy is not the mercy that belongs to charity but that which goes with friendship based on self-interest, which regarded in itself is the opposite of mercy. That kind of person despises and hates everyone else apart from himself, and so everyone else apart from the friends whom he identifies with himself.

1735. That 'blessed be God Most High' means the Lord's Internal Man is clear from what has been stated just above concerning the Internal Man. Jehovah was called 'God Most High' in the Ancient Church for the reason that 'height' represented and therefore meant what is internal, so that 'Most High' meant that which is inmost. This is why the worship of the Ancient Church was celebrated on high places, mountains, and hills. Also, that which is inmost in relation to the exterior and outermost is exactly the same as that which is the most high in relation to lower and lowest. The Most High, or Inmost, is the Celestial element of Love, or Love itself. Jehovah, or the Lord's Internal, was the Celestial element itself of Love, that is, it was Love itself, to which no other attributes are appropriate than those of pure Love and so of pure Mercy towards the whole human race, that Mercy being such that it wills to save all men, to make them eternally happy, and to impart to them all that is its Own - thus out of pure Mercy and by the mighty power of love to draw towards heaven, that is, towards Itself, all who are willing to follow. That Love itself is Jehovah. To Love alone, and to nothing else, is [the substantive verb] Am or Is truly applicable.

[2] From that Love the Being (Esse) of all life is derived, that is, Life itself is derived; for that Being is present within Love and is Love itself. And because Jehovah alone, since He alone is Love, is the Being (Esse) of life, or Life itself, every single thing has its being (esse) and its life from Him. Nor can anyone except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord alone, be and live from himself. And because no one except the Lord alone can do so, men's seeming to themselves to live from themselves is an illusion of the senses. Angels perceive clearly that they do not live from themselves but from the Lord, since they live in the Being (Esse) of the Lord's life because they abide in His Love. Yet to them more than to all others there is granted, together with indescribable happiness, the appearance of living as if from themselves. This therefore is what is meant by living in the Lord, something that is not possible unless one lives in His Love, that is, in charity towards the neighbour.