Divine Mercy Sunday

The first Sunday after Easter is celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. In 1930, Jesus appeared to Faustina, A Polish Nun, and revealed to her the nature of God’s love. Jesus said to her: “My love is unlimited and available to all, especially to the poor sinners”. Jesus blessed her with a prayer for mercy. Sr. Faustina started a special devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus and popularized it. Our Late Holy Father Pope John Paul II encouraged this devotion and in 2000 on the day of her canonization, the Pope advised the universal church to celebrate this devotion on the first Sunday after Easter.

Mercy, another name for God. God is merciful and compassionate. The whole Bible is a series of stories that proclaim the unfailing and unconditional love of God towards humanity. The expressions like “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands, I have written your name; your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16) talk volumes about the nature of God’s love. The Evangelist John beautifully summarized the depth and width of God’s love in the following statement: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that every one who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” John 3:16).

Divine Mercy! What does it Mean?

The word mercy is derived from the Latin word misericordia. Misericordia is a combination of two words: miseri and cordia. Miseri means suffering and cordia means heart. Misericordia means a heart that is willing to suffer for others. God is merciful means that God has a heart which is willing to suffer for us, willing to do anything for us.

Jesus, Mercy incarnated. “I desire Mercy not sacrifice, I haven’t come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). These words of Jesus beautifully explain how much Jesus possesses the heart and mind of God. Paul says: “God, who is rich in mercy, brought us to life with Christ” (Ephesians 2: 4). Sharing the mercy and love of God was Jesus’ mission. Jesus invited everyone “To find rest in him” (Matthew 12:28-30).

The readings for the second Sunday of Easter further substantiate this point. The Gospel (John 20:19-29) talks about two specific actions of Jesus that reflect his mercy and compassion.

1. When Jesus came to the room where disciples were hiding out of fear and remorse, he said to them: “Peace be with you, receive the Holy Spirit”. Jesus did not bring the past. He did not scold Peter for denying Him on the way to Calvary. Transcending the past, forgetting everything that had happened a couple of days ago, Jesus offered them peace and reconciliation.
   
   By offering them the Holy Spirit, Jesus was absolving them from their failures because God the Holy Spirit is the principle agent of sanctification. This is evident, if you recall the prayer of absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “God, the Father of Mercies, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit upon the church for the forgiveness of sins…”



2. Jesus showed the same mercy towards Thomas too. When Thomas was reluctant to believe in the resurrection, Jesus came to him, showed his wounded hands and satisfied his desire in the way Thomas wanted.

The way of mercy is the way of Grace. God is merciful. It is not enough to receive mercy from God. We need to show mercy to others. This is evident when Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “I desire mercy not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13). The disciples understood this message. After they themselves witnessed the mercy of Jesus, they started a new life style based on the same principle. The second reading (Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35) is the practical application of this new life style. “They took care of each other. There was no one among them who was in need”. Jesus expects us to show mercy to one another. On the day of the final Judgment, the only criterion that Jesus is going to use will be ‘whether we were merciful to one another’ (Matthew 25:40,45). Finally, as the second reading (1 John 5:1-6) states: When we practice mercy in our daily life, we proclaim that we are the children of God.