This Easter Sunday has been a special one for me. I had the grace of visiting and celebrating the Eucharist in the Sanctuary of Our Lord’s Mercy in Krakow’s Lagiewniki District. The irony is that if the Polish soil has been the witness of terrible atrocities resulting from a degenerate and unscrupulous human will, it has also been the milieu where God’s saving mercy has been generously lavished on fallen humanity, thanks to Saint Faustina Kowalska.
It was Pope John Paul II, the Pope of the Divine Mercy, who in his homily for the canonisation of Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska, on Sunday 30 April 2000, surprisingly launched for the whole Church this unique gift of Jesus’ mercy as a source of redemption and holiness. In a fully packed Saint Peter’s Square, the Polish Pontiff said: “It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’” (§ 4). What is the core of Jesus’ Divine Mercy message? Why is it important to accept and endorse it?
I would like to answer the latter question first. In one of his revelations to Saint Faustina, Jesus plainly told her: “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy” (300). Two world wars, entire genocides and all sorts of evil have seriously crushed, humiliated and almost wiped out any traces of human dignity. Only God’s saving grace can restore back what sin has tarnished. As our daily experience unfailing informs us evil destroys, annihilates, discourages whereas goodness builds up, creates and encourages one to progress in what is good and true.
In my pastoral ministry I often encounter people who feel themselves estranged from God because of their sinful past. They erroneously think that God will not forgive them for what they have done. They simply arrive at the conclusion that they do not deserve his pardon. Unfortunately, these brothers and sisters tend to forget that Jesus came into this world precisely for them, sinners. Did he not say: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9, 13)? For God the righteous ones are not those who do not sin but the ones who sincerely declare with their repentant lives: “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Ps 51, 3). Thus, instead of harshly judging others they acknowledge their weaknesses and respond to others’ needs with a merciful heart!
In one of his allocutions to Saint Faustina, Jesus confided with her this flourishing hope: “Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice” (1146).
An effective way of accessing Jesus’ unfathomable mercy is by daily reciting the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Jesus promised: “Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death”.
There is no escape of Divine Mercy!
■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann