Dear Friends,
The first Sunday after Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. This was started by Pope John Paul in 2000. Its
announcement was part of the millennium celebration and the canonization of St. Faustina. As John Paul
encouraged, we can never reflect too much on God’s mercy because the evil one is constantly tempting
us to think that we are not worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. This heresy of unworthiness has
haunted the Church over the centuries. God has responded again and again by inspiring saints to remind
us that we are loved, we are forgiven, that this is the reason why Jesus came to us.
Pope John Paul II re-emphasized the message of mercy in the resurrection context of Easter, “Jesus said
to St. Faustina one day: ‘Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy’. Divine
Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity.”
John Paul II, who died in April 2005 on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, was himself beatified on Divine
Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, by Pope Benedict, and was canonized together with Pope John XXIII on
Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis.
To honor this day, I offer you a part of a beautiful homily given by Pope Francis on Divine Mercy:
Last Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s resurrection; today we witness the resurrection of his disciple. It
has already been a week, a week since the disciples had seen the Risen Lord, but in spite of this, they
remained fearful, cringing behind “closed doors”, unable even to convince Thomas, the only one absent,
of the resurrection. What does Jesus do in the face of this timorous lack of belief? He returns and,
standing in the same place, “in the midst” of the disciples, he repeats his greeting: “Peace be with you!”.
He starts all over. The resurrection of his disciple begins here, from this faithful and patient mercy, from
the discovery that God never tires of reaching out to lift us up when we fall. He wants us to see him, not
as a taskmaster with whom we have to settle accounts, but as our Father who always raises us up. In life
we go forward tentatively, uncertainly, like a toddler who takes a few steps and falls; a few steps more
and falls again, yet each time his father puts him back on his feet. The hand that always puts us back on
our feet is mercy: God knows that without mercy we will remain on the ground, that in order to keep
walking, we need to be put back on our feet.
You may object: “But I keep falling!”. The Lord knows this and he is always ready to raise you up. He does
not want us to keep thinking about our failings; rather, he wants us to look to him. For when we fall, he
sees children needing to be put back on their feet; in our failings he sees children in need of his merciful
love. Today, in this church that has become a shrine of mercy in Rome, and on this Sunday that Saint
John Paul II dedicated to Divine Mercy twenty years ago, we confidently welcome this message. Jesus
said to Saint Faustina: “I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my
mercy”. At one time, the Saint, with satisfaction, told Jesus that she had offered him all of her life and all
that she had. But Jesus’ answer stunned her: “You have not offered me the thing that is truly yours”.
What had that holy nun kept for herself? Jesus said to her with kindness: “My daughter, give me your
failings”. We too can ask ourselves: “Have I given my failings to the Lord? Have I let him see me fall so
that he can raise me up?” Or is there something I still keep inside me? A sin, a regret from the past, a
wound that I have inside, a grudge against someone, an idea about a particular person… The Lord waits
for us to offer him our failings so that he can help us experience his mercy.
Pope Francis goes on to say, once we have embraced God’s mercy, we will be able to be merciful to
others. May we come to know God’s mercy in a deeper way today and may we share that gift with
others.
Peace,
Fr. Damian