Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday
April 7, 2024
The Good News of Mercy
The
world was in disarray in 1930. We had just experienced World War I, the
bloodiest conflict in human history with over 20 million casualties, and the
saber-rattling for World War II had already begun. The world had just seen the
Communist Revolution in Russia and China, and within two decades, over 25
countries would go through their own bloody revolution. Abortion was legalized
in Russia in 1920, and this began to spread throughout the world. In 1930 at
the Lambeth Conference, the Episcopal Church became the first Protestant
denomination to allow contraception, sowing the seeds of the Sexual Revolution.
The “Roaring Twenties” had led to decadence and flaunting of moral norms, while
the Stock Market Crash of 1929 had led to starvation and despair.
Into
this situation, God sent…not a warrior, not a Pope, not a leader…but a young
peasant girl from Poland named Helen Kowalska. Ordinary in every way, she
became a nun and worked as the convent gardener and cook. She would have lived
and died in obscurity if it were not for the events of February 22, 1931.
During
prayer that day, Jesus appeared to her in a vision and began to teach her that,
in His words, “I am giving mankind the last hope of salvation, that is recourse
to My mercy. Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My
mercy.” In a century that was so full of misery, the answer from Heaven is His
Mercy.
Over the
next several years, Jesus continued to reveal the secrets of His Mercy to Sr.
Faustina. What secrets? That God burns, aches to have mercy on mankind! Jesus
said, “The flames of mercy are burning Me, clamoring to be spent. I want to
keep pouring them out upon souls, but souls don’t want to believe in My
goodness.” He has so, so many mercies to heal the broken hearts, to forgive the
sinners, to give love to the unloveable, to free those trapped in the chains of
addictions, to bring hope to the despairing – but He cannot pour these out on
souls unless we ask for them and trust in Him. This is mercy – where God’s love
meets our misery! No one is excluded – Jesus said, “The greater the sinner, the
greater the right they have to My Mercy.”
In
particular, there are three parts to the Divine Mercy devotion. The first is the
Feast of Divine Mercy, which we celebrate today. How fitting it is that Pope
St. John Paul the Great instituted this feast in 2000 – and then died on this
feast in 2005! Our Gospel speaks about Jesus bestowing mercy on the Church as
His first gift after the Resurrection. It was as if Jesus had to leave this
world to return to Heaven to bring back an endless treasury of mercy – a
treasure that had been paid for by His Blood – and then He gives that treasure
to the Apostles, our first Bishops, to distribute. The treasure of mercy is
distributed through Confession, the Sacraments, the merciful teachings of the
Church, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
A second
part of the Divine Mercy message is the image. Why this image? Notice Jesus’
hands are raised in blessing, and that He touches His Most Sacred Heart, from
which flow out rays of red and white – a symbol of the Blood and Water which
flowed from His side on the Cross – and a symbol of the Sacraments of Baptism
and the Eucharist. When we see His hand blessing; the blood that was poured for
us; the words beneath, encouraging us to trust in Him – we see a visual of His
goodness. I’m amazed how many Catholics think that God is against them, that
God doesn’t really want their happiness, or that God’s commands are to put us
through a brutal test. Divine mercy blows that idea out of the water! He is for
us, on our side, desiring to shower blessings…maybe not the physical things
we pray for like a new job or healing from cancer, but the deeper blessings of
eternal happiness, sanctification, and unbounded love.
Finally,
there is a beautiful prayer that was revealed to St. Faustina called the
“Divine Mercy Chaplet.” It is a powerful prayer which begs God to have mercy on
the whole world, by remembering what He did to obtain it – His Passion and
Death. The Chaplet is prayed on regular Rosary beads, and the leader begins,
“For the sake of His sorrowful Passion,” and the others respond, “Have mercy on
us and on the whole world.” Let’s pray a decade…This prayer is particularly
powerful for the dying – I always pray it at the bedside of a dying person.
This
time of mercy, however, will not last forever. Jesus said to St. Faustina, “Before
I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses
to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.”
The door of mercy is closing fast, and Christ is coming again, very
soon. This is not radical apocalyptic thinking – it’s been the longing of the
Church since the very beginning, but now it reaches a certain urgency. After
all, Jesus said to St. Faustina, “You will prepare the world for My final
coming.” Let us take advantage of His mercy – in the Sacrament of Confession,
in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, in repenting of our sins and truly seeking
the Merciful Face of Christ – lest we be forced to face His justice.
What a
joy to know of God’s mercy! Mercy is not a license to sin; rather, mercy says
that our sins have been paid for on the Cross. Turn to His mercy, trust in His
mercy, extend His mercy to others.
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