Journey of Faith, Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19th

Easter and divine mercy… these are sacred partners in the practice of our faith, and this time of crisis is a moment to recall the power of both gifts in our lives.

Easter is God’s promise that through the Cross we are inheritors of the Kingdom—if we share Christ’s mercy with the world. That’s the plan! So today, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance started by St. Pope John Paul II who often preached about mercy at Easter time. That’s because of his spiritual closeness with Faustina Kowalska, a Catholic nun and mystic, whom he declared a saint of the Church in 2000.

During her brief lifetime, Faustina received revelations from Our Lord who asked her to record her experiences. Known today as the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this is the saint’s message that touches me the most: “Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy.”

Today, in her honor and with St. Faustina as our model, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, knowing that God’s mercy and forgiveness are beyond our imagination. Beyond understanding. But not beyond imitating in our own human way. A good meditation on mercy is to recall a time someone forgave you for a pain that you caused. Do you remember how it felt to be forgiven? God’s mercy is all that—multiplied infinitely. There is always a path to forgiveness no matter what we have done or failed to do. That path begins with mercy and finds its fulfillment in the Resurrection of Our Lord.

Friend, the next time Jesus is at your door, let him in, knowing that you are also welcoming mercy into your life. Accept the gift. Then pass it on and experience your own Resurrection.

Podcast (journey_of_faith): Play in new window | Download