Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday - April 28, 2019

Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday

April 28, 2019

Second Life

            Wouldn’t it be great to have nine lives, like a cat? Then we could go bungee jumping and skydiving and never have to worry, because even if something went wrong, we’d still have a few lives left. There are some video games like that, such as Call of Duty which is a military game, where if you mess up and accidentally get shot you get to “re-spawn” in ten seconds. That would be nice to have the option to re-spawn in real life!

            Unfortunately that’s not the case, because as the American prophet and rapper Drake once said, “YOLO” – aka, “You only live once.” We get one life to live; no do-overs in our physical life.

            But that is not true in the spiritual life, where we do get a second life…and a third…and a forty-fifth. This is what God’s mercy means – the slate gets wiped clean, we get remade new, innocence is restored.

            You will notice that there are two times in the Bible when it says that God breathes. The first time is with Adam. Into Adam’s nostrils, God breathes the breath of life, giving physical life to this creature made of dust. The second time is today, when Jesus breathes on His Apostles. In Hebrew the word for breath is “ru’ah” – the same word for spirit. So He breathes His Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, not to give them physical life as with Adam, but to restore the supernatural life of grace to a world that had died in sin.

            This is what mercy does. It takes those dead in sin and gives them a second life.

            The world thinks in terms of crime and punishment. Every crime must be atoned for; justice must be brought about. From the misdemeanor of a parking ticket to first-degree murder, every crime must have a punishment. A parking ticket deserves a twenty-five dollar fine. Murder deserves life in prison. And the person who committed the crime must pay the penalty – I cannot serve someone else’s jail sentence.

            But God does not think in terms of crime and punishment; He thinks in terms of sin and forgiveness. Our punishment for sin should have been death. But this is how God shows His love for us: that He has paid back the debt we owed. We can now walk away free, given a new life, a second chance – or for many of us, a hundredth chance – because mercy is that lavish.

            When someone goes on a long trip, it is customary for them to bring back a gift. You may have received those mugs that read, “Someone I know went to Disney World and all they brought back was this lousy mug!” Or something like that. When Jesus returned from His journey through the netherworld, He brought back a great gift – what was it? “Peace,” He says to His Apostles three times in today’s Gospel. He brings them peace – but there can be no peace if our consciences are troubled, if we are dead in sin. So He also brings mercy – the ability to forgive sins – knowing that this is the only way to have inner peace! Peace and mercy – much better than a mug or a tee-shirt!

            So on this Divine Mercy Sunday, how do we take advantage of these gifts of peace and mercy so that we too can have the supernatural life of grace restored to our soul? Fr. Michael Gaitley MIC has a very helpful acronym to help us accept and live in Christ’s mercy – it’s as easy as A-B-C.

A – Ask for mercy! We ask for mercy in Confession, and by daily begging the Lord’s forgiveness. As Jesus Himself revealed to St. Faustina, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right they have to My Mercy.” He went on to say, in the Diary of St. Faustina: “Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion.” Jesus gets great delight in pouring out mercy to those who ask!

B – Be merciful to others. As Pope St. John Paul II said, “Mercy is love’s second name.” Mercy is about giving people what they do not deserve. So to the friend who abandoned you in the time of need, you don’t abandon them. To the brother or sister who annoy you, we treat them with greater kindness than necessary. To that person who did hurtful things to us, we forgive them even before they ask for it. We pray for those who have harmed us. If we wish to experience mercy, we must extend that mercy to others.

C – Completely trust in God’s mercy. A lot of times we can be so troubled by our past that we think of it constantly. It can be like a weight on our backs, a ball-and-chain that prevents us from being truly free. It is then that we must commit it to the ocean of God’s mercy. St. Augustine said, “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.” We cast our burdens into the oceans of His mercy, knowing that He has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west.

My friends, Jesus’ gifts upon returning from the dead are peace and mercy. We can only have peace through mercy. And this mercy is so radical, lavish, amazing, that it can take a dead man and give him a second life.