Lesson for the Divine Mercy Sunday

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Saturday, 06 April 2024

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The Risen Christ Brings Peace

My dear brothers and sisters, today is the Divine Mercy Sunday. Today's readings remind us why today is Divine Mercy Sunday, it is the Risen Christ, once crucified, not glorious, who brings us peace. If we do not experience peace and communion, we need to examine ourselves to see from where those divisions and turbulence arise; they do not come from Our Lord.

In today's First Reading we see the budding Church experiencing peace and communion in everything. Anyone who was in need received aid, and they shared everything they had.

The Apostles not only taught them gladly but also guided them and healed them with their "power." The apostles preaching centres on the Resurrection of Christ, in part because of what we'll consider in today's Gospel. It was their experience of peace given by the Risen Christ that made them his ministers of that same peace.

In today's Second Reading St. John reminds us that by loving God and obeying his commandments we are sure to love others and conquer the worldliness that tries to separate us from God and others. It is worldliness that robs us of peace and communion. Believing in Our Lord as the Son is the key to turning our backs on a world that often tries to divide us and isolate us in selfishness.

In Saint John's writing, the "world" almost invariably refers to all the forces opposed to Christ, his teaching, and our faith. If Our Lord brings peace and communion, divisions and turbulence can only come from the world.

The world is not just something "out there"; a spirit of worldliness often tests us. As much as the world tries to claim otherwise, the teachings of Our Lord bring peace to a troubled world and troubled consciences.

This process is not easy. Saint John insists that Our Lord did not just have to pass through water, but blood as well. He was baptized, but he also had to take up his cross and struggle all the way to Calvary. So do we. Saint John also reminds us that the Holy Spirit helps us identify and check the worldliness that always tries to afflict us.

The Risen Lord shows his wounds today in the Gospels to the disciples and says, "Peace be with you." They'd all abandoned him when he needed them. Showing those wounds could have been to shame them, but Jesus wanted to communicate a message of mercy, not condemnation.

Sometimes we forget that we've been forgiven. Jesus in showing his wounds today says, in a sense, "what happened, happened, but be at peace; I forgive you." Every sin we commit wounds Our Lord, and if we don't realize that, obviously we're not going to be asking mercy from anyone, and not showing much mercy when others hurt us.

Conversion means realizing we've gone off-track and hurt people along the way, including the people we love. Our Lord is always waiting for us to turn back to him and accept his peace to get back on track. In every sacrament of Confession, we acknowledge that we've hurt Christ and hurt others: we recognize the wounds we've inflicted and Christ tells us to be at peace because all is forgiven.

Our Lord gives the Apostles a special gift of the Holy Spirit today to become his ministers of peace, reconciliation, and communion. It's the Risen Lord who makes this possible. If Our Lord were merely dead and gone or ascended straight away without appearing to his disciples, we'd never truly know if he'd have forgiven us. He returned, Risen, and his first words were words of peace and a desire to share that peace with others. He sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins, forgiveness that brings peace.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

Saint Faustina Kowalska* of the Blessed Sacrament received a special invitation from Our Lord to become an apostle and secretary of divine mercy. She was born in Poland on August 25, 1905, the third of ten children in a poor and pious family.

She had dreamed of being a religious since she was seven years old, and, having concluded her schooling, wanted to enter a convent, but her parents refused and at sixteen she became a housekeeper to supper herself and her family.

In 1924, while at a dance, she had a vision of Christ suffering. She went to a cathedral and Our Lord told her to travel to Warsaw and enter a convent. Many convents turned her away, but finally the mother superior for the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy accepted her on condition that she raise funds to pay for her religious habit. She took the habit in 1926 and made her first profession of vows in 1928.

On February 22, 1931, Faustina was visited by Jesus, who presented himself as the "King of Divine Mercy" and asked her to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.

In September 1935, Faustina wrote about her vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, now prayed throughout the world, and in July 1937 the first holy cards with the prayers and image of Divine Mercy were created and distributed. She died in 1938 as the devotion was barely beginning and was canonized by St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000.

*Note: This information we took from: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=510

Remember You Have Been Forgiven and Ask Forgiveness from Someone

When we remember all the mercy we have been shown it helps us, in turn, to be more forgiving toward others. Let's show Our Lord today that we appreciate his mercy toward us by being more merciful and helping to spread the peace of Christ so that we can all be, as the First Reading reminds us, "of one heart and mind." Let's never forget that we've been forgiven.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Reconciliation with God and reconciliation with others are two sides of the same coin. Show your appreciation for divine mercy this week by asking someone you've hurt or wronged for forgiveness.

The Divine Mercy Devotion

Devotion to the Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in him, to accept his mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful as he is merciful. The devotional practices proposed in the diary of Saint Faustina and set forth in here are completely in accordance with the teachings of the Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Saviour. Properly understood and implemented, they will help us grow as genuine followers of Christ.

The Divine Mercy Message:

The message of mercy is that God loves us "all of us" no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognise that his mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon him with trust, receive his mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share his joy. It is a message we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.

A. Ask for his Mercy. God wants us to approach him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking him to pour his mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B. Be merciful. God wants us to receive his mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as he does to us.

C. Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know the graces of his mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

The Divine Mercy Image

In 1931, Our Lord appeared to a young Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, in a vision. She saw Jesus clothed in a white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching His garment in the area of the heart, from which two large rays came forth, one red and the other pale. She gazed intently at the Lord in silence, her soul filled with awe, but also with great joy. Jesus said to her:

"Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. " I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory (Diary, 47, 48). " I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: Jesus I trust in You (Diary, 327). "I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world" (Diary, 47).

At the request of her spiritual director, Saint Faustina asked the Lord about the meaning of the rays in the image. She heard these words in reply:

The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross " Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (Diary, 299) " By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works" (Diary, 742).

Many different versions of this image have been painted, but Our Lord made it clear that the painting itself is not what is important. When Saint Faustina first saw the original image that was being painted under her direction, she wept in disappointment and complained to Jesus: "Who will paint You as beautiful as You are?" (Diary, 313) In answer she heard these words: "Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace"(Diary, 313). So, no matter which version of the image we prefer, we can be assured that it is a vehicle of God's grace if it is revered with trust in His mercy.

The Feast of Mercy (From St Faustina's Diary)

One morning, when it was my duty to open the gate to let out our people who delivered baked goods, I entered the little chapel to visit Jesus for a minute and to renew the intentions of the day. Today, Jesus, I offer You all my sufferings, mortifications and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, so that he may approve the Feast of mercy. But, Jesus, I have one more word to say to You: I am surprised that You bid me to talk about this Feast of mercy, for they tell me that there is already such a feast and so why should I talk about it?

And Jesus said to me, "And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about is often do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday of Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it."

"I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy"

Hour of Great Mercy

Jesus said to St Faustina: "At three o'clock, implore My Mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that make a request or Me in the virtue of My Passion……" "I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring the glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world- mercy triumphed over justice"

https://divinemercyapostolate.co.uk/the-divine-mercy-devotion/