Reflection from Fr. David: Feast Day of Divine Mercy

In a private revelation received by Saint Faustina, Jesus said: "I want there to be a Feast Day of Mercy. I want My image to be venerated with devotion and love on the first Sunday after Easter. This Sunday must be the Feast Day of Mercy." This request was made by Jesus to St. Faustina of Poland at His apparition on February 22, 1931. This request of Jesus was only realized in 2000, when the Holy Father John Paul II declared the Sunday after Easter Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. Since then the universal Church has officially celebrated the Feast Day of Divine Mercy.

The world needs Divine Mercy

Pope John Paul II, often called the Pope of Mercy, stated in a homily on August 17, 2002 that the world today urgently needs Divine Mercy. The world is suffering from prolonged conflicts, death of innocent people, hatred and revenge are rampant, human dignity is not respected, the culture of death is undermining the influence of the culture of life. All these cannot be separated from the sinfulness of the human race. When the power of sin has so firmly gripped mankind, there is only suffering for the sake of suffering. Divine mercy is needed to help victims of the violent power of sin in the hearts of many. But more than that, divine mercy is needed to change people's minds and hearts, redirect their lives to build peace and love in normal life. In other words, divine mercy is truly needed to transform the atmosphere of destruction into an atmosphere of reconciliation and love. Divine mercy is needed even more so for people who create an atmosphere of sinfulness. When humanity is no longer able to help itself from the chaos of a life filled with sin, divine mercy becomes a much-needed grace.

What does Divine Mercy mean?

The biblical meaning of "Mercy": Latin - misericordia; Greek: heleos; English: mercy. In Hebrew: divine mercy is referred to as rahamim and khesed, which are two expressions used to refer to God's loving nature. The word "rahamim" is related to the word "rehem" which means "womb or conception". Thus, rahamim (translated: mercy) is God's loving nature that is similar to that of a mother's womb. Just as the womb "protects, cares for, warms, nourishes, fertilizes, nurtures, unconditionally accepts, and conceives", so too is God's love for mankind. With His mercy, God protects, nourishes, warms, gives growth, guards, unconditionally accepts, and is carried everywhere. Just as a fetus cannot live and develop without the mother's womb, so too mankind cannot live without God's merciful love. Another word for mercy is "compassion."

The feast of divine mercy wants to make people aware of God's infinite mercy. God's mercy is taken into account in the midst of man's moral and spiritual collapse. It is as if there is nothing in our lives that we can rely on to obtain forgiveness, salvation, and life renewal from God. St Paul described the status and condition of man as painful darkness. Man is in an unsaved condition because he is a victim of the tyranny of the power of sin, the tyranny of death, and the tyranny of the Law that only relies on salvation from human strength. These tyrannies exist and haunt man since his birth into the world. This is indeed the case, even people who are very moral must have committed mistakes or sins. Sinfulness over time can become a habit and the death of the conscience and human morality slowly becomes a necessity. In the face of God's holiness, which is unblemished and uncompromising, every person with fragile moral-spiritual qualities is essentially dead. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul emphasized that all human beings live under the divine justice of God's wrath.

God's mercy invites us to participate

It is in this hopeless condition that God's mercy is absolutely necessary for man to be considered worthy of the gift of salvation. God's mercy does not despise our status or kill our potential. God's love does not have the effect of paralyzing our moral-spiritual fighting power. On the contrary, God loves us so very much and wants us to be His image. God's mercy, which was demonstrated completely in the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, does not kill man's spiritual power but rather awakens it. Christ's sacrifice on the Cross awakens the divine power bestowed upon each of us. The blood of Christ shed on the Cross cleanses each of us who are steeped in sin to become holy children of God. Thus, the redemptive work of Christ not only improves the objective conditions of the human world, but also transforms man as the subject of salvation. Christ's redemptive work invites people to engage in His work of saving the world.

Therefore, the devotion to Divine Mercy invites all the faithful to live the ABC's of Mercy, namely:

- A - Ask for His Mercy: God wants us to come to Him in prayer constantly, regretting our sins and asking Him to pour out His mercy on us and on the world.

- B - Be Merciful = Be Merciful to Others. God wants us to receive His mercy and let that divine mercy flow through us to others. God wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others as He does to us.

- C - Completely Trust Him: God wants us to know that His merciful graces depend on the extent of our trust. The more we trust Him, the more abundant the grace we will receive.