Devine Mercy Sunday April 7, 2024

 Readings: Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and the readings make reference to God’s mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith, and our need for the forgiveness of our sins. The opening prayer addresses the Father as “God of everlasting Mercy.” In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118), we repeat several times, “His mercy endures forever!” God revealed His mercy, first and foremost, in sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord through His suffering, death and Resurrection. Divine Mercy is given to us also in each celebration of the Sacraments, instituted to sanctify us.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday!  The emphasis is on God’s loving Mercy on humanity through His son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is for us a perfect example of how to show mercy. God’s mercy is all-encompassing. It is capable of unity humanity into a community of love. The unity that humanity seeks in contemporary “globalism” is achievable through forgiveness. Jesus Christ insists that, ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ This is a picture of God’s intention to give mercy the divine character of Jesus Christ.

The character of mercy is to be found in the life and ministry of Christ. The self-donation on the cross is a show of mercy beyond ‘right or wrong’. The intention of Christ is to give humanity a new beginning that is devoid of violence. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of nonviolence. The ministry of Jesus Christ is to present and open this kingdom to humanity. Self-donation is a sacrifice of nonviolence. To forgive is to withdraw from violence. It is the renunciation of the will to violence. forgiveness breaks the vicious circle of violence – vengeance, rivalry etc. The ability to give up the natural impulse to retaliation is what the self-donation in forgiveness achieves.

On this day, let us promote the mercy that flows from the cross. The centrality of the cross in God’s mercy cannot be over emphasized. The unity and understanding that forgiveness achieves is beyond comparison and comprehension.

WISHING YOU ALL HAPPY FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY!

Fr. Terry.