Why do we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday this weekend?
On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized the Polish nun, Faustina Kowalska, who had received from Jesus the amazing revelations of the Divine Mercy.
During that ceremony, the pope fulfilled one of the requests that Jesus had made through those revelations: that the entire Church reserve the Second Sunday of Easter to honor God’s infinite mercy.
Where do we see this mercy revealed in today’s Readings?
First, in the mercy Jesus shows his Apostles, who abandoned him just two nights before.
They had abandoned him, but he wasn’t going to abandon them.
We see God’s mercy when from the cross Jesus forgives those who have crucified him.
And finally, just to make sure that the Church is fully armed to communicate this message of mercy, Jesus gives his Apostles the power to forgive sins.
One example of forgiveness that I read about recently was very powerful.
It took place a long time ago, in France, during the years following the French Revolution.
It’s about an old man who walked with a limp. He had been a respected soldier in Napoleon’s army, but battle wounds had ended his promising career.
He traveled from village to village, begging, which he hated to do.
He arrived in one village and made his way to the steps of the Church.
He was willing to take coins from church-goers, but he despised them all the same for believing in a God who could have permitted the terrible crimes he had witnessed.
The next morning the priest found the beggar huddled on the steps in a worn blanket and, after Mass, invited him to come to his house for breakfast.
The old soldier felt repulsed, as he always did when taking charity, but hunger and the kindness on the priest’s face made him accept.
The stranger stayed there for several days. The priest’s kindness towards him never stopped. Finally, the stranger asked for confession.
One of his sins stood out from all the rest.
The beggar had been the most trusted servant of a wealthy family. The father had rebelled against the French revolution. His wife and six children entrusted their lives and fortunes to the servant. But for a bag of gold he betrayed his master's wife and children and watched them go one-by-one to the guillotine. Only the youngest child escaped, and no one had seen him since.
With tears of shame, the stranger finished his confession. The priest gave him absolution, raised him up and hugged him.
Suddenly, the old soldier saw a portrait on the wall of the family he had betrayed.
“Who are you”, he asked the priest.
The priest smiled.
“I am the youngest son who survived, my friend. And I forgive you.”
Our greatest treasure as Catholics is the revelation of God’s unending mercy. It’s the only thing strong enough to penetrate the walls of pain, anger, fear, and resentment that we have built around our hearts.
Mercy! That’s why we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday this weekend.