Friars Corner: Divine Mercy is God’s extraordinary love for sinful humanity

Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR

+ Blessed Divine Mercy Sunday
for all of you
and your families! +

Acts 4:32-35; Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24;
1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

We need to know that all of the New Testament was written by those 120 men and women who were part of Jesus’ inner circle during his public. We also need to add St. Paul.

Jesus followers knew they could not do his extraordinary things without him. So at the last resurrection appearance, the Ascension, Jesus told them to remain in the city until they received power from on high. That power came on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit floated down upon them and set them on fire. They were so transformed and filled with faith and conviction that we are Catholic Christian now because of their fearless witness of Christ.

During these weeks after the resurrection, we look at various stories surrounding Christ’s rising. If we are attentive to these events and stories, we can be like the two disciples going to Emmaus on Easter Sunday. After they recognized Jesus, as he broke bread at dinner, they ran back to Jerusalem to tell those in the Upper Room. They realized, as we can, that “their hearts were burning” as Jesus spoke to them on the way.  Jesus, make our hearts burn with more love for you and the totality of your messages.

St. Faustina

Over the years after Jesus ascended, he has appeared for some in two thousand years. The latest approved appearance was to a poor and almost uneducated polish peasant. God often picks the most unlikely persons to work through, like us. This little girl eventually joined a group of sisters and is now known as St. Faustina. Jesus gave his messages in Poland in the 1930s. Jesus appointed Sister Faustina as the secretary of his mercy. He gave us several new channels of his power for our lives.

What is Divine Mercy? It is not a new or special message but reminds us of the heart of Jesus’ life, teaching, death and resurrection. It is about God’s love for us. God’s very nature is love – a perfect love shared by the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “Divine Mercy” is the form of God’s love takes when it flows from the Trinity to us. Divine Mercy reveals itself when God, who is Love itself, loves us. God loved us when he created us. He loved us when he redeemed us, and when he sanctifies us.

Mercy is a person

When God saw his beloved creatures fall into sin and get “broken,” in the garden, he did something about it. God made promises, to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David to repair the damage of disobedience. Sin continued to grow. God our Father send us his Son in the person of Jesus Christ. That is why Divine Mercy is a person, not just an attribute of God. Jesus is the face of the Father’s mercy.

Mercy is a particular kind of love. When love encounters suffering, poverty, brokenness, and sin, it mercifully takes action to do something about it. Mercy is God’s love going out to our misery. Jesus said the greatest sinner has the greatest claim on his mercy, if he or she repents. Divine Mercy among other things, is love poured on sinful humanity to free it of sin and its consequences. As Pope St. John Paul II, explained in his second encyclical Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), mercy is love’s second name.

A-B-Cs of mercy

St. John Paul II has officially approved much of what Jesus told St. Faustina and asked of his church. We have a new picture of Jesus. We have this new feast. On this Sunday we can have all the temporal punishment due to our sins taken away. The A-B-C of mercy are:

• Ask for God’s mercy.
• Be merciful to others.
• Complete trust in his love for us.

The greatest channels of mercy are the Eucharist (Mass) and Reconciliation. After those, there is prayer at three o’clock, the hour Jesus died on the cross.

Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena

There are two other elements we can easily do every day to receive and give God’s mercy. Jesus gave us a new and simple rosary, said on our normal beads, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It only takes about six minutes to say with no meditations on mysteries.

The other element is a Novena of Divine Mercy. Jesus gave us 9 different groups of people to pray for. Initially this novena was to begin on Good Friday and end the following Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday. I prayed that and saw the power of God and the needs in our world today. Now, when I finish nine days, I start the novena over again. I do this all year long because there is so much need in our world.

May the glorious and radiant light of our risen Lord Jesus so surround and penetrate us that more of his loving mercy will fill us and flow from us to bless those around us each day. As we use these “tools” of mercy, we help God make our world a better place to live in.

N.B.: A Plenary Indulgence can be gained in addition to Sunday Mass and a Divine Mercy prayer service, and having received the sacrament of Reconciliation 20 days before or after this Sunday along with an Our Father and creed for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Blessings,
+ Fr. Bob Hilz
(© 2018 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)