Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. I am a huge fan of Divine Mercy! Many years ago I read the Diary of St. Faustina who was called to promote Divine Mercy and a few years later a good friend invited me to start a daily meditation which was called, “33 Days to Merciful Love”. It was a do-it-yourself retreat based on the spirituality of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina, and St. Therese of Lisiuex who made her consecration to Merciful Love. The first time he invited me I didn’t bother giving it much thought, I simply didn’t want to do it. Later on however, I figured I would just open up the book and started reading and got hooked right away. It radically changed my life. It was a new way of looking at the spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Faustina, Divine Mercy and trust. It also happened that I went to Poland during those 33 days. I also always felt close to John Paul II who instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy and died on the Eve of Divine Mercy. So many things have come together to make me a huge fan of Divine Mercy.
Do you know what the Hebrew word is for Mercy? “Re-chem”, which also means “womb”. The same word for a mother’s womb is used to describe God’s mercy. Like a mother nourishes and protects her child, so God nourishes and protects us, his children. We have nothing to fear, we are in God’s hands. No evil, no sin, no darkness is too great that God can not bring love, healing and light to.
One of the truths about God’s mercy is that he is pure love and goodness and loves his children and when we fall, he longs for us to run to him. He will come to us and pick us up, every single time. As we read from the Diary of St. Faustina, Jesus said to her:
“How painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me! Sins of distrust wound Me most painfully (1076).”
“My child, all your sins have not wounded My Heart as painfully as your present lack of trust does — that after so many efforts of My love and mercy, you should still doubt My goodness (1486).”
As we read in today’s Gospel, even when we are afraid and our hearts are locked and boarded up, if there is just a little bit of trust in God’s mercy, he will come and encounter us wherever we are and bring peace, mercy, love and healing.
“When the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”
Jesus came and encountered them and showed them how much he loved them, “When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”
And he gave them in their weakness and fear, the grace of sharing his mercy with the whole world, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’”
Jesus even came back for Thomas who wasn’t there the first time and who didn’t believe the other disciples.
If you think that God is mean, or cruel, or judgemental, or harsh, then perhaps you don’t believe in the God who Jesus revealed to us. Because what we have seen in today’s Gospel and on Divine Mercy Sunday, is the God that Jesus revealed to us. As St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church, wrote, “I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Saviour. I know that He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love. And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace.”
If you need anything, never hesitate to ask me.
God bless you and your loved ones, Fr. Kramer Cameron, LC