When Blessed Pope John Paul II
declared the second Sunday of Easter to be Divine Mercy Sunday, it gave
liturgists and theologians all over the world quite a lot to talk about. Some said that this was something that was
unheard of, and felt that this was inappropriate, as it might obscure the
celebration of Easter, or worse, set a precedent of a Pontiff establishing
feast days for all the other attributes of God.
One should also take into
consideration though, that through the revelations of our Lord to St Faustina,
Jesus had himself asked for the Second Sunday of Easter to be named the Feast
of the Divine Mercy. The Church
had always (prudently) made the distinction between “private revelations” and
“prophetic revelations”. The
former are those given to souls, usually for their own benefit and
sanctification, whilst the latter are given to chosen souls to communicate a
truth to the whole Church, for its sanctification and to draw the Church back
to a truth if it had neglected it.
To put the entire controversy in a nutshell (which would always be
problematic for any theologian because it means that a whole lot of miniscule
details will have to be either put aside or left out for the sake of brevity),
the Church was on a road of recovery of the more biblical perspective on
God (without contradicting the
philosophical perspectives on God), enabling Catholic thinkers to appreciate
the revelations of God’s merciful love given through St Faustina. It’s not that God’s other divine
attributes pale in comparison to his divine mercy, but rather, from our point
of view as recipients of God’s attributes in our being, it is God’s mercy that
is his greatest attribute for his
creatures.
What this celebration does is to
draw us to look at and appreciate in a deeper and deeper way on this day, just
how much we need God’s mercy in our lives, and that it really is his mercy at
work that is allowing anything at all to happen in our lives and in our world. We simply take too much of God’s mercy
for granted, and it is, as it were, the concerted effort of the Church to hone
in and tap upon this great gift which is pure grace, something so undeserving
for us human beings who are so prone to sin and selfishness.
Perhaps it is timely here to make
one thing clear – it was not the intention of Our Lord to ask for the afternoon
devotions which are common these days (especially on Divine Mercy Sunday), but
instead, wanted us to focus on reaching out to weakened souls to bring them to
the feast of his mercy so that he can heal and strengthen them.
So is it wrong to pray the Divine
Mercy chaplet on the afternoon of the second Sunday of Easter? Of course it is not. Is it necessary? Again, of course it is not. Should we do more than just pray the
chaplet? Unquestioningly, we
should.
One changes most when one is
faced with the prospect of a new life, a new way to live and received a renewal
from within. This is what Divine
Mercy ultimately gives to all of us.
When we face God’s mercy, knowing the kind of things we have done that
really prevent us from an eternal union with him, we will be so thankful that
we are given that all important second chance by God. In short pithy statements then,
Divine Mercy is our opportunity
to admit to our own stupidity without worrying that we will not be able to make
any comeback.
Divine Mercy is about knowing
that we could never have made it on our own to heaven, no matter how holy or
saintly we may think we have lived our lives.
Divine Mercy is being able to say
that heaven is all about Him, and not all about us.
Divine Mercy is allowing God’s
forgiveness to be balm to our wounds, and for us to become healing salve to
others when asked for it.
Divine Mercy is being unwilling
to hold any grudges against others for their transgressions against us because
God never holds ours against us.
Divine Mercy results in our
willing to go the extra mile because God went the distance for us.
Divine Mercy is wielding
forgiveness as the greatest weapon in the fight against evil, because in
exercising it, God shows where real strength and power lies.
On Divine Mercy Sunday, the homilist mentioned that the dictionary definition of ‘mercy’ was vastly inadequate ...........without further elaboration. To satisfy my own curiosity, I looked it up and it says – ‘’compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power.’’ Now as I read your blog which says - ‘’ God’s mercy........is His greatest attribute for His creatures.....a great gift....of pure grace......undeserving recipients....’’ though we are - I am beginning to understand why. It also helps to explain the words of St Aquinas on ‘’Mercy consists in bringing a thing out of non-being into being,‘’ for I see it in the daily mass readings of the Acts of the Apostles. Because this ‘mercy attribute’ is lived out so concretely in the life of the early Christian communities. We are told that they were ‘’united heart and soul – and everything they owned was held in common......’’ what a fearless and audacious way to live! It is humanly not possible to achieve then as now – knowing our human nature of egocentricity and pride. But I believe it was brought into being because of His divine mercy – pure grace! No wonder their faith was one that can ‘’overcome the world’’
ReplyDeletePerhaps, that is why our Blessed Pope John-Paul II chose this time of the year to high-light this special attribute of God for us. It is also interesting to note that whilst writing about this subject matter of divine mercy he said, ‘’.................in the light of the dramatic build-up of evil during the Second World War and the cruelty of the totalitarian systems..................it was as if Christ had wanted to reveal that the limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately Divine Mercy.”
God bless you, Fr
tessa