The Divine Mercy Sunday is central to the
Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Mercy is God is present in our lives and
in turn God expects us to be merciful to others. This could be done through the
corporal works of Mercy and the Spiritual works of Mercy. In this way we adhere
to the Scriptural words of the last judgment. The English word, ‘mercy’ has its
reference in Hebrew word ‘hesed’ which means ‘loving
kindness’, ‘love’. The word mercy has its roots in the Latin word, ‘misercordia’,
miser = wretched, cor = heart or in other words, pity
and mercy. Therefore, it simply means, heart of a sinner, the heart that seeks
God’s pity or mercy.
St. Faustina calls this heart as soul. She writes in
her diary the following words revealed by Christ to her, “My daughter, tell the whole world about My
Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter
for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of
graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will
go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness
of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which
grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its
sins be as scarlet.”
Christ the merciful is
depicted through the image of Christ as described by St. Faustina. This image
of mercy shows a tender loving care of Christ to the humanity. It is an image
that shows love and kindness. A tender look of Christ is relevant as we are in
the second Sunday in Easter. In her diary, St.
Faustina describes in detail the image of Mercy that Christ instructed her to
have painted. “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 very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized
heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath
of My Father. Happy is the one who dwells in their shelter, for the just hand
of God shall not lay hold of him.”
Pope Saint John Paul II was very passionate about the
mission of revealing the mercy of Jesus to the world. In the year 2000, at the
canonization Mass for St. Faustina, he announced that the Second Sunday of
Easter would now be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. It must be made clear
that this was not done in order to establish a way of honoring St. Faustina,
but to emphasize the meaning of the Resurrection and the depths of God’s great
mercy and love that is made available to all of His creation.
We can possibly do a few things on the Divine Mercy
Sunday such as:
1
Celebrate the Feast on
the Sunday after Easter;
2
Sincerely repent of all
our sins;
3
Place our complete
trust in Jesus;
4
Go to Confession,
preferably before that Sunday;
5
Receive Holy Communion
on the day of the Feast;
6
Venerate the Image of
The Divine Mercy;
7. Be merciful to others, through our actions, words,
and prayers on their behalf.
In conclusion, let us
remember the words on the image of the divine mercy, ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’
Let this image guide us through our difficult times and turmoil of life. Let us
be that image of merciful Christ to each other, specifically who are longing to
see that image in us. This way, we can be merciful like the Father.
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