Divine Mercy

I heard a story recently about a priest who was making good time rolling up I-65 when he got pulled over for speeding well above the limit. As the state trooper was about to write the ticket, the priest said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Without missing a beat, the trooper handed the priest the ticket and said “Go, and sin no more.”

That story fits in with our readings. This weekend, the second Sunday of Easter and the end of the Octave of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. At first glance it might seem a bit strange to talk about Divine Mercy right in the middle of celebrating the Easter miracle of Christ’s rising from the dead. If we step back and reflect a bit though, it makes perfect sense. Easter truly is the ultimate manifestation of God’s Divine Mercy for us. Think about it - God revealed his love and mercy for us by sending His only begotten Son to become our savior and Lord through His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Our Easter celebration, from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday all the way through the Triduum to the glorious triumph of Christ over sin and death on Easter morning, and indeed through the whole Easter season - it’s all about the Divine Mercy of God. Through God’s mercy, Christ came forth to ransom us and bring us to salvation. St. John Paul II put it this way, in his encyclical Rich in Mercy (Dives in Misericordia): ”In His resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely because He accepted the cross as the way to the resurrection.” Our redemption from sin through the Cross of Christ involves the revelation of mercy in its fullness.

The theme of God’s mercy flows throughout today’s readings. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles recounts how God continued to show his Divine Mercy by the healing power bestowed on the apostles through the Holy Spirit. Just as during Jesus’ earthly ministry God’s mercy was made known through the signs and wonders he worked for those in pain and distress, His Divine Mercy continued to be manifested to the early Church through the similar signs and wonders worked by the apostles – signs and wonders meant to strengthen the faith and bring others to believe.

The reading from Revelations reminds us that Christ is with us always, that his people are surrounded by Christ’s mercy at all times, and especially during times of distress and tribulation. “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives.“

In today’s Gospel from John, we hear about Christ coming among his dispirited disciples behind locked doors on the evening of Easter. He bestowed on them the Holy Spirit, breathing into them a new life much as God breathed original life into Adam in the Genesis creation story. Christ commissions his newly created apostles to go out and convert the world - “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He sends them out to continue His ministry of love, forgiveness, and mercy to all the world. In His commissioning of these first bishops of the Church, Jesus also institutes what we now call the Sacrament of Reconciliation - “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” - clearly a Sacrament manifesting the Divine Mercy of God.

There’s a story about a soldier charged with misconduct who was brought before General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. As he stood there trembling, the general said to him, “Don’t be afraid, son. Here you will receive justice.” The soldier looked up at the general and said, “Sir, that’s what I’m afraid of.” That’s what we ALL should be afraid of! But God’s justice is kind of funny by our standards. Think about the apostles - how many times did they get it wrong, did they fail to understand what Jesus was telling them? And what did Jesus do? He commissioned them to convert the world!

Think about PETER - he boasted about his bravery, how he would never deny the Lord. And then, as soon as things got tough, he denied him not once, but three times during Christ’s time of greatest need - “I do not know the man!” By our standards of justice, clearly Peter should have been punished. Through Christ’s Passion, though, a more profound justice is at work. God’s justice has a name - it’s called Divine Mercy, and we celebrate it this weekend. Instead of being condemned for falling short, Christ made Peter the first head of the Church. And like Peter, instead of the justice we merit, we have been granted the divine gift of God’s mercy through the Easter sacrifice and triumph of our Lord and Savior.

Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil - the Triduum we celebrated just last weekend - those are the three great days of grace - of the Divine Mercy bestowed on each of us through God’s great love. But the gift of Divine Mercy, the unconditional love of God, extends beyond the season of Easter. It’s manifested not just in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but in ALL the Sacraments.

The Divine Mercy of God truly is the key ingredient underlying our Easter salvation story. The depth of God’s love for us is manifest in the outstretched arms of Christ on the Cross, and he’s calling us to partake of His mercy. But the gift of Divine Mercy is a gift meant for sharing. It’s a river meant to flow through us out into the world, to be offered to others as it has been offered to us. As we continue our Easter journey, let us embrace and share the great gift of Divine Mercy won for us by our Savior. Let us become the apostles we have been called to be.