“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29b)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia! In our Gospel this weekend, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples, patiently soothing their troubled hearts. He raises their spirits and their lives are changed. Jesus raises them up with mercy. They, having received that mercy, become merciful in turn. It is hard to be merciful without the experience of having first received mercy. This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. We do need to reflect upon the mercy of God more and more as people fall to the temptation to be quick to judge. The sanctity and inherent dignity of human life needs to be recalled as we think of treating others, and of how God has chosen to treat us.

Mercy is loving kindness given to us by God which we do not deserve but we need. God shows us his boundless love, restraining the severe justice due to us, moved rather to give us himself. We hear in the first letter of St. John, “If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). When we acknowledge our sins, then we realize our need for God’s mercy.

In 1931, St. Faustina in Poland heard Jesus in her prayers expressing his desire for a feast celebrating his mercy. The Feast of Mercy was to be on the Sunday after Easter and was to include a public blessing and liturgical veneration of His image with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in You.” The Church has made the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, to be an occasion for receiving a plenary indulgence, “the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven” (CCC, no. 1471). To ensure that the faithful would observe this day with intense devotion, this day is enriched with a plenary indulgence, “so that the faithful might receive in great abundance the gift of the consolation of the Holy Spirit. In this way, they can foster a growing love for God and for their neighbor, and after they have obtained God's pardon, they in turn might be persuaded to show a prompt pardon to their brothers and sisters” (Decree from Apostolic Penitentiary, June 29, 2002).

You may be asking, “How do I obtain a plenary indulgence”. This indulgence is granted to those who, on Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"). To gain the indulgence, one has to fulfill the usual conditions of Confession, Eucharist, praying for the intentions of the pope, and complete detachment from sin, even venial sin). Otherwise a partial indulgence is granted to those who with a contrite heart pray to the merciful Lord Jesus with an approved invocation.

Thus, please be aware that on this Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, the chaplet of Divine Mercy will be prayed at 3:00pm at both St. Mary Cathedral and at St. Ann Church. All are welcome to come and join in prayers as we invoke the mercy of God and seek help to share that mercy with our brothers and sisters. In the Diary of St. Faustina, she reports that Jesus said to her, “At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person” (Divine Mercy in My Soul, no. 811). Let us with confidence implore the mercy of God not only for ourselves but also for those in need!

What God has given to us, we ought to offer back to him with greater return. When we look to give our entire selves over to God, we must be willing to give our weakness and our failures, and allow God to transform them by his great mercy. For instance, I look watching a good chef turn ordinary food into something incredibly delicious. How much more wondrous is God turning us sinners into his holy ones, immersed in his great love? This doesn’t mean that we remain bystanders but are allow his mercy to radiate in our lives to other people. Having received mercy, let us now become merciful. For if love is only about us, faith becomes barren and sentimental. Without works of mercy, it dies (cf. Jas 2:17). Let us be renewed by the peace, forgiveness and wounds of the merciful Jesus. Let us ask for the grace to become witnesses of mercy. Only in this way will our faith be alive and our lives unified. Jesus, I trust in You!

In Christ,

Fr. Tony Rowland