DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

Pope John Paul II's Homily 

On the first universal celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, 2001.

Divine Mercy: The Easter Gift

"Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore" (Rev 1:17-18).

We heard these comforting words in the Second Reading taken from the Book of Revelation. They invite us to turn our gaze to Christ, to experience His reassuring presence. To each person, whatever his condition, even if it were the most complicated and dramatic, the Risen One repeats: "Fear not!; I died on the Cross but now I am alive for evermore"; "I am the first and the last, and the living one."

"The first," that is, the source of every being and the first-fruits of the new creation; "the last," the definitive end of history; "the living one," the inexhaustible source of life that triumphed over death forever.

In the Messiah, crucified and risen, we recognize the features of the Lamb sacrificed on Golgotha, who implores forgiveness for His torturers and opens the gates of heaven to repentant sinners; we glimpse the face of the immortal King who now has "the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev 1:18).

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever! (Ps 117:1). Let us make our own the Psalmist's exclamation which we sang in the Responsorial Psalm: "The Lord's mercy endures forever!" In order to understand thoroughly the truth of these words, let us be led by the liturgy to the heart of the event of salvation, which unites Christ's Death and Resurrection with our lives and with the world's history. This miracle of mercy has radically changed humanity's destiny. It is a miracle in which is unfolded the fullness of the love of the Father who, for our redemption, does not even draw back before the sacrifice of His Only-begotten Son. 

In the humiliated and suffering Christ, believers and non-believers can admire a surprising solidarity, which binds Him to our human condition beyond all imaginable measure. The Cross, even after the Resurrection of the Son of God, "speaks and never ceases to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely faithful to His eternal love for man. ... Believing in this love means believing in mercy" (Rich in Mercy, 7).

Let us thank the Lord for His love, which is stronger than death and sin. It is revealed and put into practice as mercy in our daily lives, and prompts every person in turn to have "mercy" towards the Crucified One. Is not loving God and loving one's neighbor and even one's "enemies," after Jesus' example, the program of life of every baptized person and of the whole Church?

A great joy

With these sentiments, we are celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter, which since last year, the year of the Great jubilee, is also called "Divine Mercy Sunday." It is a great joy for me to be able to join all of you, dear pilgrims and faithful who have come from various nations to commemorate, after one year, the canonization of Sr. Faustina Kowalska, witness and messenger of the Lord's merciful love.

The elevation to the honors of the altar of this humble religious, a daughter of my land, is not only a gift for Poland but for all humanity. Indeed the message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. Jesus said to Sr. Faustina one day: "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy" (Diary, 300). Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.

The Gospel, which has just been proclaimed, helps us to grasp the full sense and value of this gift. The Evangelist John makes us share in the emotion felt by the Apostles in their meeting with Christ after His Resurrection. Our attention focuses on the gesture of the Master, who transmits to the fearful, astounded disciples the mission of being ministers of Divine Mercy. He shows them His hands and His side, which bear the marks of the Passion, and tells them: "As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you" Jn 20:21).

Immediately afterwards, "He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained' " (Jn 20:22-23). Jesus entrusted to them the gift of "forgiving sins," a gift that flows from the wounds in His hands, His feet, and especially from His pierced side. From there a wave of mercy is poured out over all humanity.

Let us relive this moment with great spiritual intensity. Today the Lord also shows us His glorious wounds and His Heart, an inexhaustible source of light and truth, of love and forgiveness.

The Heart of Christ!

His "Sacred Heart" has given men everything: redemption, salvation, sanctification. Saint Faustina Kowalska saw coming from this Heart that was overflowing with generous love, two rays of light which illuminated the world.

The two rays, [according to what Jesus Himself told her], denote blood and water (Diary, 299). The blood recalls the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist; the water, according to the rich symbolism of the Evangelist John, makes us think of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit (See Jn 3:5; 4:14).

Through the mystery of this wounded Heart, the restorative tide of God's merciful love continues to spread over the men and women of our time. Here alone can those who long for true and lasting happiness find its secret.

"Jesus, I trust in You!"

This prayer, dear to so many of the devout, clearly expresses the attitude with which we too would like to abandon ourselves trustfully in Your hands, 0 Lord, our only Savior.

You are burning with the desire to be loved and those in tune with the sentiments of Your Heart learn how to build the new civilization of love. A simple act of abandonment is enough to overcome the barriers of darkness and sorrow, of doubt and desperation. The rays of Your Divine Mercy restore hope, in a special way, to those-who feel overwhelmed by the burden of sin.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us always to have this trust in your Son, our Redeemer. Help us too, St. Faustina, whom we remember today with special affection. Fixing our weak gaze on the divine Savior's face, we would like to repeat with you: "Jesus, I trust in You!" Now and for ever. Amen.

From the Jerusalem Catecheses

Baptism is a symbol of Christ’s passion

You were led down to the font of holy baptism just as Christ was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb which is before your eyes. Each of you was asked, “Do you believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?” You made the profession of faith that brings salvation, you were plunged into the water, and three times you rose again. This symbolized the three days Christ spent in the tomb.

As our Savior spent three days and three nights in the depths of the earth, so your first rising from the water represented the first day and your first immersion represented the first night. At night a man cannot see, but in the day he walks in the light. So when you were immersed in the water it was like night for you and you could not see, but when you rose again it was like coming into broad daylight. In the same instant you died and were born again; the saving water was both your tomb and your mother.

Solomon’s phrase in another context is very apposite here. He spoke of a time to give birth, and a time to die. For you, however, it was the reverse: a time to die, and a time to be born, although in fact both events took place at the same time and your birth was simultaneous with your death.

This is something amazing and unheard of! It was not we who actually died, were buried and rose again. We only did these things symbolically, but we have been saved in actual fact. It is Christ who was crucified, who was buried and who rose again, and all this has been attributed to us. We share in his sufferings symbolically and gain salvation in reality. What boundless love for men! Christ’s undefiled hands were pierced by the nails; he suffered the pain. I experience no pain, no anguish, yet by the share that I have in his sufferings he freely grants me salvation.

Let no one imagine that baptism consists only in the forgiveness of sins and in the grace of adoption. Our baptism is not like the baptism of John, which conferred only the forgiveness of sins. We know perfectly well that baptism, besides washing away our sins and bringing us the gift of the Holy Spirit, is a symbol of the sufferings of Christ. This is why Paul exclaims: Do you not know that when we were baptized into Christ Jesus we were, by that very action, sharing in his death? By baptism we went with him into the tomb.

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter. This is known as Divine Mercy Sunday. The focus of this Sunday is Jesus’ Divine Mercy which, through His eternal sacrifice, pours out into all of God’s Creation throughout eternity. This was first revealed to the world through Saint Faustina and now we as Christians are all invited to partake in the gift of Jesus’ Mercy and Love. The healing power and love that his Mercy offers is limitless; whatever it touches is purified and made perfect. Through Jesus’ Mercy we will become perfect and will be able to become a perfect creation through and by Jesus Christ.

The Gospel reading today describes an intimate interaction between Jesus and His disciples. He gave them the Gift of the Holy Spirit by breathing on them. This emphasizes a close, personal relationship. This is the relationship that Jesus wants with us; a relationship that looks beyond our sins and short-comings; focusing instead on our personhood and us as Children of God. It is through this personal relationship that we can come to understand what God wants for us and how to live our lives in a communion with Him. In Communion with God means we are in Communion with His Creation which further means we are living the way that He intended us to in the first place. Through this we can then encounter a new joy and a new way of experiencing things. At the center of this is Jesus’ Mercy and Love.

When we commit ourselves to Jesus and living the Christian Life we become a part of something bigger than ourselves. Our community matters and every person within our community matters. When one hurts we all hurt; when one celebrates we all celebrate. What we all have is meant to be shared and used by all. As Jesus offers salvation and mercy to all so are we to offer what we have to everyone for we are created in His image and must act accordingly if we are to live the Christian Experience as God intended. Jesus did not want to leave anyone behind. He made it a point to approach Thomas and help him overcome his humanness to realize who Jesus was in His full divinity. Out of all of the disciples it was the one who denied that Jesus appeared to them after His death and who initially denied the Resurrected Christ who was the first to recognize the Divinity of Jesus Christ with the words, “My Lord and My God!” This was made possible through Jesus’ limitless Love and His Divine Mercy. Those who are injured and those who are broken are lifted up to the highest of heights through the accepting of what Jesus has to offer. This goes against everything that society teaches and stands for but is what defines us as Christian: we are all broken and are made perfect through Jesus Christ.

We continue to celebrate the Easter Joy and claim our birthright as Children of God. We are Children of the Light and glorify in the Light in all of its greatness. Our Easter Celebration Continues.

Deacon Tom