1. Dear brothers and sisters,
may the Lord give you Peace.
This is the gift of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, the evening of the first Easter, this is the gift He offers us every Sunday, when He comes to us in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
This Sunday, the Sunday of the Octave of Easter we celebrate a special feast, that is the feast of the Divine Mercy. Probably you know that this feast is connected to the apparitions of Jesus to a humble sister, sister Faustina Kowalska. But it was in 2000, during the great Jubilee of Incarnation, that Saint Pope John Paul the Second established that the devotion to the Divine Mercy had to became a liturgical Feast for all the Catholic Church, in the Second Sunday of Easter.
Let us now underline just two aspects of the Divine Mercy that are crystal clear in the readings we heard in this liturgy.
2. First of all the Divine Mercy is a gift of the Risen Christ, through the ministry of the Church.
We read in the Gospel of Saint John, that the Risen Lord Jesus came and stood in the midst of the apostles and said to them, "Peace be with you." And he showed them his hands and his side, which signified his love that was showed giving his life for all of us on the Cross.
At the same time Jesus said to the disciples for the second time: "Peace be with you”. And gave to them the ministry of mercy, saying them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And breathing on them and saying to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”.
So it is important, first of all that we remember that mercy is a gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us conquering death and rose from death bringing us forgiveness and eternal life, through the gift of the Holy Spirit that renews us and through the ministry of the Church that offers us the forgiveness of our sins.
3. Secondly it is very important to discover that when we welcome the Divine Mercy we become able to change deeply our attitudes.
Divine Mercy is the source of our conversion, of a deep conversion from selfish attitude towards concrete love through concrete sharing.
If we pay attention to the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we discover that those who welcomed the preaching of Saint Peter, that is the announcement of the resurrection of Jesus and a call to conversion, received baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit and started to live a new life: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common… There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need”.
When we receive mercy, it is necessary that we become merciful, in a very concrete way. And if we want to receive mercy it is necessary that we are available to offer mercy, this is what we ask in the prayer “Our Father who art in Heaven”, when we pray: “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
In the same way we can pray: “Be merciful with us, as we are merciful to our brothers and sisters”.
4. At the end of this reflection let us ask to the Lord a deep experience of the Divine Mercy, using a prayer of Saint Faustina Kowalska:
Most merciful Jesus,
I turn to You in my need.
You are worthy of my complete trust.
You are faithful in all things.
When my life is filled with confusion, give me clarity and faith.
When I am tempted to despair, fill my soul with hope.
Most merciful Jesus,
I trust You in all things.
I trust in Your perfect plan for my life.
I trust You when I cannot comprehend Your divine Will.
I trust You when all feels lost.
Jesus, I trust You more than I trust myself.
Most merciful Jesus,
You are all-knowing.
Nothing is beyond Your sight.
You are all-loving.
Nothing in my life is beyond Your concern.
You are all-powerful.
Nothing is beyond Your grace.
Most merciful Jesus,
I trust in You,
I trust in You,
I trust in You.
May I trust You always and in all things.
May I daily surrender to Your Divine Mercy.
Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy,
Pray for us as we turn to you in our need.
Fr. Francesco Patton, ofm
Custos of the Holy Land