Divine Mercy Sunday
The Second Sunday of Easter (Year ABC)
Acts 5: 12-16; Revelation 1: 9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20: 19-31
One thing I love about the Gospels, and especially the Gospels in the first few weeks of the Easter season, is that often they play out like an episodic drama. We hear one part of the story one week, but it is continued the following week, similar to a good television series or soap opera. Case in point, our Gospel today. Last week, Easter Sunday, we heard that Mary Magdalene, following the instructions she had received from Jesus, goes to the Apostles, locked behind the doors that they hoped would hide them from the Jewish and Roman authorities, the same Jewish and Roman authorities that had cruelly, brutally, mercilessly put to death three days before - their master, their teacher, the one they had followed for three years, the one they had pinned their hopes on, the one they had loved. Her message was an incredible one, “He is risen!” And on hearing that, Peter and John have a foot race to the tomb, where they find it just as Mary had told them – empty.
Today’s “Part Two” of the story, takes place the same day - Easter Sunday night. Huddled in fear in this locked room are these friends of Jesus who, after the Last Supper, could not stay awake one hour to pray with him, and who ran away when the Roman guards came to arrest him; friends who spoke not a word in his defense at his trial - except for Peter who three times denied he even knew Jesus. Here are the closest disciples of Christ who were nowhere to be found when Jesus needed help carrying his cross. They were counted among the absent at the foot of the cross. But notice the immediacy and even urgency of Jesus. Not days, but only hours after his Resurrection, allowing neither death nor bolted doors to hold him back, Jesus appears to his Apostles and offers words of forgiveness, words of peace, words of mercy. No judgment. No condemnation.
Five weeks ago, on the Third Sunday of Lent, our First Reading, from the Book of Exodus, recalled when, from the burning bush, God revealed His name to Moses – “YAHWEH” . . . “I AM WHO AM.” And just who is “I AM WHO AM? God also revealed that to Moses, this time on Mount Sinai when he gave the two stone tablets to him, on which were inscribed, by God’s own finger, His law, the Ten Commandments. For He said to Moses, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin.” God is the fullness of all things bright and beautiful; all things just and true; all things sweet and pure. God is love. God is mercy. And so, that the risen Jesus would find it in his divine heart of hearts to forgive this unfaithful bunch shouldn’t then surprise us at all.
When Pope Francis inaugurated the Year of Mercy in 2015, he said, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” And indeed, He is. God’s mercy streams from Jesus’ heart. I’m sure you’ve seen images of the Divine Mercy, representations of the vision of Jesus by St. Faustina, with rays of light emanating from his heart. Our Lord, himself, explained this to St, Faustina, saying: “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him” (299).
- Christ's heart is God's mercy on us . . .
- Christ's heart is God's forgiveness of our foolish sins . . .
- Christ's heart is God's pardon for our crimes against the hearts of others in our lives . . .
- Christ's heart is offered in love for all the times we have selfishly held on to our own desires, for all the times we have stubbornly held back what was ours to give and share . . .
- Christ's heart, sentenced to the Cross, is our freedom, our parole, our own sentence served.
- Christ’s heart is an eternal fountain of forgiveness that never stops pumping, flowing, gushing forth with mercy, mercy that has no end. The font of Jesus’ mercy is never turned OFF by the vagaries of our repentance - or lack of it.
God’s mercy precedes our sins . . . the small ones, the medium ones, the large ones, even the extra-large ones. God knows that we will sin and is ready to forgive our sins long before we even think of sinning. That sin I find so hard to acknowledge? to bring to speech? to confess? God’s mercy was there to wash away, to forgive, to erase long before I did what I did, long before I failed to do what I should have done. God only waits for me to claim the mercy already prepared for me and offered to me in the sacrament of reconciliation, that I might be set free of what burdens and haunts my heart.
God has mercy to spare - eternal springs and rivers and oceans of mercy to spare. Many of us spend a good part of our lives struggling to believe that God’s mercy and love are truly meant for us. And many of us spend a good part of our lives struggling to forgive someone who has deeply hurt us. Sometimes the only way we can forgive those who have hurt us is to entrust them to the mercy of God . . . God who has so generously forgiven us who find it so difficult to forgive one another.
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we are also challenged to discern where, in our own lives, each of us stands in need of God’s mercy. AND, on this Divine Mercy Sunday, we are called to discern when and where and how, in our own lives, each of us has the opportunity, the responsibility, to be merciful to those around us. If Jesus is the face of the Father’s mercy, then each of us is called to be the face of Jesus for one another.
I know that many of you right now might be saying, “How do I tap into this ever-gushing font of God’s mercy?" It’s simple . . . go to Confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Sin without repentance is the only obstacle that prevents Jesus Christ from deeply healing and sanctifying our souls. Take an inventory of your heart. If there is anything in your heart that is impeding your love for Jesus or prohibiting you from accepting His - any grudge still held, any despair or mistrust, any kind word left unsaid, any duty seriously neglected, any unloving thought, word or deed - this is the time for a "spring cleaning of the soul." Make a good confession, and then try your best, with the help of grace, to keep your soul clean, open, and ready to receive our Savior in Holy Communion.
On that first Easter Sunday night, the master, the teacher, the one they had followed for three years, the one they had pinned their hopes on, the one they had loved, said to his Apostles, “Peace be with you.” He says that also to us. And like them He desires to pass through the bolted door of our souls with urgency and immediacy. Like Thomas, he allows us to probe the opening in his side from which flowed the blood and water from His most Sacred Heart and which now flows out the ocean of his Divine Mercy. Will we, in turn, allow him to probe the wounds of our afflicted lives, to touch our souls? For with His peace comes joy to our broken hearts. With that peace comes mercy to our sin-stained souls.
“God our Father,
your Son Jesus expired,
but the source of life GUSHED forth for souls,
and the OCEAN of mercy opened up for the whole world.
We pray that this FOUNTAIN of Life,
the UNFATHOMABLE Divine Mercy,
ENVELOP the whole world
and be EMPTIED out upon us.” Amen.
