Today is the second Sunday of Easter. The Holy Father at the command of our Lord has also designated this day as Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the world. Jesus appeared to Saint Faustina as the Divine Mercy. We have all seen the portrait of Christ with His right hand raised in blessing and His left hand on His heart from which point two rays, one white and one red, spread forth. The white meaning the life that comes through the waters of baptism and the red representing the blood of the cross and the Eucharist, across the bottom of the picture are the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.”
Helen Kowalska who took the name Faustina was born in Poland in 1905, from almost the beginning she wanted to be a nun and to give herself to Christ and to be formed in the doing of God’s will. She died in 1938 having been professed only thirteen years. She was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Faustina kept a written record of her reflections and the locutions she received from Jesus. They are published, the six notebooks, in her diary which is in complete accord with the Gospel and the Church’s teaching.
In the Psalm prayer today, #118, we hear three times “His mercy endures forever.” We unconsciously hope and expect that this means, to use the vernacular, “A free pass – with no strings attached that God will accept me at the judgment in an unrepentant state without having made a sincere attempt to conform myself to God’s will by availing of the power of sanctifying grace. Without which eternal life cannot be ours.
God is love. He is compassionate and forgiving. His love is unconditional and everlasting. His kindness is to soften us and make us want to love in return. To love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, all our mind is the first commandment and the new commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.
The one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, from the very beginning has taught her children, her brothers and sisters how to live in God’s grace. We hear today, “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done.” The work of building us into a holy people, into conformity with the will of the Father is the purpose of Christ’s life, deaths and resurrection. Jesus says this is God’s will for you, your sanctification. And so knowing that the church which is Christ, whom He will not leave or abandon is threefold. We on earth are the church militant, those in purgatory are the church suffering and those in heavens are the church triumphant. We will return to this in a moment.
The message of the Divine Mercy of Christ is that to those who are struggling and are repentant the Lord’s forgiveness is always available. The message is also that we must reach out for it. “Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven. And whose sins you retain they are retained.”
St. Paul suffered from an unknown affliction and asked three times that it be removed but Jesus did not oblige and only said, “My grace is sufficient unto you.” We are to take up our cross each day and follow Christ. His Grace is there but we must cooperate with it. Jesus reminds us that we are pilgrims in this world. Our home is not here but in heaven. “I am going to prepare a place for you that where I am you also may be.”
We must not become weary in doing good. “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart. Take my burden upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden light. Do not be afraid. ” God’s mercy is like a mother’s milk that nourishes her child and at the same time strengthens him. So that he may grow and flourish. A mother is merciful toward her child throughout his life. It is the same with God who has said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
But let us return to the church militant which is us in this life, struggling within ourselves to love and to avoid sin and the church triumphant which is composited of the saints who have been cleansed, either here, or in purgatory which is the church suffering. God is a God of mercy and of Justice. If we don’t avail ourselves of His mercy we will most certainly experience His justice, which is purgatory and for the unrepentant hell.
When I was a boy growing up in San Francisco, we used to go to the amusement park on Saturday, especially to the fun house. There was a large round flat wheel that rotated at increasing speed. We would jockey for position as we were admitted on so that when the bell sounded we could rush to sit directly in the center of the wheel. As others filled up the space, there would be concentric circles formed each further from the center and closer to the edge. As the wheel picked up speed in rotating, the people near the edge would be thrown off while the person in the exact center would be the lone survivor. The action of that wheel is called centrifugal force. On the other hand the force that moves a body toward the center is centripetal force.
Each of us every moment of our lives takes a place on the rotating wheel that is our life on earth. If we are not at or near the center we will be thrown off at some point. And if we are thrown off again and again, we become discouraged and give up. It is clear that Christ is the exact center of our wheel and if we make every effort to sit in Him we will not be moved, no matter what else may be taking place around us. In the sacrament of Baptism and in the other sacraments we experience the presence of Christ who nurtures us with the milk of mercy. As a mother gives herself to her child in feeding him and loving him, so does Christ give Himself to us in feeding us with the Holy Eucharist – His Body and Blood - God’s very life.
In the Gospel today we are made participants with the apostles to the appearance of the risen Lord in the upper room on the evening of the day of the resurrection. Thomas was not there, for whatever reason we are not told, perhaps he had become discouraged because of the events of his life. One thing we do know, he had lost his faith.
When he was told later of Jesus appearance he said, “I will not believe, unless I experience His presence and His wounds for myself.” The following week the apostles gathered with Thomas present, the Lord came through the locked doors and knowing how Thomas felt, called him forward. Not to just look at Him but he said, “Put your finger here and see my hands and put your hand into my side. In other words probe my wounds and see how I love you. And be not unbelieving but believe.”
Thomas was overcome and said, “My Lord and my God.”
This is God’s message to each of us. “My mercy is open to you if you will only believe how much I love you. Blessed are you who have not seen but believe.” Our response is “Jesus, I trust in you.”
Helen Kowalska who took the name Faustina was born in Poland in 1905, from almost the beginning she wanted to be a nun and to give herself to Christ and to be formed in the doing of God’s will. She died in 1938 having been professed only thirteen years. She was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Faustina kept a written record of her reflections and the locutions she received from Jesus. They are published, the six notebooks, in her diary which is in complete accord with the Gospel and the Church’s teaching.
In the Psalm prayer today, #118, we hear three times “His mercy endures forever.” We unconsciously hope and expect that this means, to use the vernacular, “A free pass – with no strings attached that God will accept me at the judgment in an unrepentant state without having made a sincere attempt to conform myself to God’s will by availing of the power of sanctifying grace. Without which eternal life cannot be ours.
God is love. He is compassionate and forgiving. His love is unconditional and everlasting. His kindness is to soften us and make us want to love in return. To love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, all our mind is the first commandment and the new commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.
The one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, from the very beginning has taught her children, her brothers and sisters how to live in God’s grace. We hear today, “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done.” The work of building us into a holy people, into conformity with the will of the Father is the purpose of Christ’s life, deaths and resurrection. Jesus says this is God’s will for you, your sanctification. And so knowing that the church which is Christ, whom He will not leave or abandon is threefold. We on earth are the church militant, those in purgatory are the church suffering and those in heavens are the church triumphant. We will return to this in a moment.
The message of the Divine Mercy of Christ is that to those who are struggling and are repentant the Lord’s forgiveness is always available. The message is also that we must reach out for it. “Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven. And whose sins you retain they are retained.”
St. Paul suffered from an unknown affliction and asked three times that it be removed but Jesus did not oblige and only said, “My grace is sufficient unto you.” We are to take up our cross each day and follow Christ. His Grace is there but we must cooperate with it. Jesus reminds us that we are pilgrims in this world. Our home is not here but in heaven. “I am going to prepare a place for you that where I am you also may be.”
We must not become weary in doing good. “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart. Take my burden upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden light. Do not be afraid. ” God’s mercy is like a mother’s milk that nourishes her child and at the same time strengthens him. So that he may grow and flourish. A mother is merciful toward her child throughout his life. It is the same with God who has said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
But let us return to the church militant which is us in this life, struggling within ourselves to love and to avoid sin and the church triumphant which is composited of the saints who have been cleansed, either here, or in purgatory which is the church suffering. God is a God of mercy and of Justice. If we don’t avail ourselves of His mercy we will most certainly experience His justice, which is purgatory and for the unrepentant hell.
When I was a boy growing up in San Francisco, we used to go to the amusement park on Saturday, especially to the fun house. There was a large round flat wheel that rotated at increasing speed. We would jockey for position as we were admitted on so that when the bell sounded we could rush to sit directly in the center of the wheel. As others filled up the space, there would be concentric circles formed each further from the center and closer to the edge. As the wheel picked up speed in rotating, the people near the edge would be thrown off while the person in the exact center would be the lone survivor. The action of that wheel is called centrifugal force. On the other hand the force that moves a body toward the center is centripetal force.
Each of us every moment of our lives takes a place on the rotating wheel that is our life on earth. If we are not at or near the center we will be thrown off at some point. And if we are thrown off again and again, we become discouraged and give up. It is clear that Christ is the exact center of our wheel and if we make every effort to sit in Him we will not be moved, no matter what else may be taking place around us. In the sacrament of Baptism and in the other sacraments we experience the presence of Christ who nurtures us with the milk of mercy. As a mother gives herself to her child in feeding him and loving him, so does Christ give Himself to us in feeding us with the Holy Eucharist – His Body and Blood - God’s very life.
In the Gospel today we are made participants with the apostles to the appearance of the risen Lord in the upper room on the evening of the day of the resurrection. Thomas was not there, for whatever reason we are not told, perhaps he had become discouraged because of the events of his life. One thing we do know, he had lost his faith.
When he was told later of Jesus appearance he said, “I will not believe, unless I experience His presence and His wounds for myself.” The following week the apostles gathered with Thomas present, the Lord came through the locked doors and knowing how Thomas felt, called him forward. Not to just look at Him but he said, “Put your finger here and see my hands and put your hand into my side. In other words probe my wounds and see how I love you. And be not unbelieving but believe.”
Thomas was overcome and said, “My Lord and my God.”
This is God’s message to each of us. “My mercy is open to you if you will only believe how much I love you. Blessed are you who have not seen but believe.” Our response is “Jesus, I trust in you.”
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