7th Sunday of Easter

Jesus shows us how to pray
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ
The second reading, from the First Letter of Saint Peter, reminds us that sharing in the Holy Spirit is really sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Whenever we follow Christ faithfully, we will suffer in one way or another. This seems to be a rule of life that never changes. The only condition is that we suffer for Christ and in Christ and that we won’t get caught up in ourselves.
In prophet Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Wednesday Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.
The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'
He smiled at her and answered, '! Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'
My dear brothers and sisters, if today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Jesus prays for us. This is the message of the Gospel today. Jesus is always present, praying for us and being the one who guides and directs us. Jesus prays to his Father, his Father who is in Heaven! For that is what it means to pray: to lift up one's soul and one’s entire mind to God, who is in Heaven. With his prayer, he shows us how one must pray, and what must be said to our heavenly Father. Certainly, this prayer is indeed that of Christ, and many of the words in it befit Him and Him alone. But what is important to understand is the spirit of this prayer: a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving, a spirit of complete trust in our Father!
The poem Broken Dreams written by Robert J. Burdette gives an example of how we often lack trust in God. This is that poem…
As children bring their broken toysWith tears for us to mend,I brought my broken dreams to GodBecause He was my friend.But then instead of leaving HimIn peace to work alone,I hung around and tried to helpWith ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,“How could you be so slow”“My child,” He said, “What could I do?You never did let go.”
Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina that “Sins of distrust wound Me most painfully”
There are two principle reasons why we often lack trust in God — pride and fear. As our loving Father, God wants us to bring our needs to Him, including our broken dreams. That is an initial act of trust, because we would not bring our needs to someone if we did not think that they could help us. “But then instead of leaving Him In peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.” How often do we do just that? This is our own pride acting up, thinking that we know better than God. It is distrust in God’s plan; we become impatient and want things done our way and according to our timeline.
The other reason we often distrust God is fear. I think that is why Jesus says over and over again throughout the Gospels, “Do not be afraid. I am with you always” Often when we see God’s will for us we also see the difficulties, struggles and even persecutions that will be involved and we are afraid. We don’t think we can do what God is asking of us. We might not understand why He is asking it of us. Yes dear friends, Can we really trust that God will not abandon us in our difficulties and need?
This is so meaningfully said.. : -
Look Back & 'Thank' God.Look Forward & 'Trust' God.Look Around & 'Serve' God.Look Within & 'Find' God!'
During this coming week before Pentecost I ask you to please pray like Mary, the women, the apostles and disciples for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church and on all of us that we may respond to God better.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Ascension of our Lord
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his small catechism (The Aquinas Catechism), presents three ways in which Christ’s ascension was profitable for mankind.
First, by way of a leader, Christ ascended in order to lead men to heaven. Before Christ mankind had no leader, no guide, but now Christ has guided the way. Moreover, the way was closed until Christ opened the way and showed it to us.
Second, by way of increasing our confidence, Christ ascended in order to make intercession for us, and so we read in St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, “He is able… to save forever them that come to God by Him, always living to make intercession for us.” (Hb 7:25); and in another place, “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just.” (1 Jn 2:1)
Third, by way of detaching us from earthly things, Christ ascended to draw our hearts to Him, and so we read in St. Matthew’s gospel, “Where thy treasure is, there also is thy heart also.” (Mt 6:21)
By His ascension,…
Christ has opened the way to heaven and has prepared a place for us in heaven;
Christ has a seat at the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for us;
Christ has shown us where we must place our hearts.
We are so busy doing things, achieving, making progress that we can forget what life is all about, preparing to meet God in heaven. The Ascension of Jesus reminds us that we are ‘only passing through’ here, as we say. We are pilgrims on a journey. Just as Jesus’ earthly life was temporary, came to an end, and he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, so also our lives here are temporary, will come to an end and we will meet God in our eternal life. The Ascension of Jesus reminds us in all of our busyness not to forget what life is all about. One of the lines in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, our second reading today it is a prayer; so beautiful and relevant.
May God our Father...enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers. (Eph 1:18-19)
Before Jesus ascended, he entrusted his mission to the Apostles and disciples saying, “Go out to the whole world, proclaim the good news.” That mission was entrusted not only to priests and religious, but to everybody, to you. You are called by Jesus to preach the Good News where you live and work. As you carry out the Lord's mission Paul's advice to the Ephesians is a most beautiful guide for living and ministering in the name of God to others. Let us not be so busy that we forget about God. yes dear brothers and sisters
May God our Father...enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

6th Sunday of Easter Season

Witness to Christ with the Help of Paraclete
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Everywhere in Manhattan you see men and women traders trying to sell thing to passers-by. You could buy anything. One thing we have learnt from street trading is that success is often determined not by the quality of the goods but by the ability of the traders to advertise and get themselves noticed. No matter how precious the goods one has to sell, if you keep your mouth shut and do not advertise it to prospective customers, no one will notice and no one will buy. Something similar happens in the business of evangelization. No matter how precious and true our faith is, if we do not tell others about it, they will not know about it and they will not embrace it. In today’s second reading from the First Letter of Peter we have a wonderful teaching on how to share our faith with others.
“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your Hearts” (1 Peter 3:15a). This instruction is directed to those who are not “zealous for what is right” for fear of being harmed.
Fulton J. Sheen once said that we are God’s chosen people but often we behave like God’s frozen people.
We should be ready to defend the truth of our faith, but you may ask how? The simple answer is: Be grounded in the faith yourself and then you can share it with others. You can’t give what you don’t have. We must make effort to know our faith more by knowing the basic documents of our faith, the Bible, the teachings of the church, the Catechism. It was St Jerome who said: “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.”
Still we may not be strong enough. Don’t worry in today’s gospel we have another privilege: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
Ronald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
Our Lord promised not a pigeon but another paraclete.
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, and Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally describes someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century ad there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
We need to be witnesses of Christ, sanctifying Christ as Lord in our hearts in this present world!
"What can I do?" you may ask, "I am only a single individual. What difference can I make?" Maybe we can learn something from the story of the Cracked Pot
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it; and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."
Yes dear brothers and sisters, each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His table. In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste.
God can use anyone to do His work including our weaknesses. Let’s ask our Lord to send the Paraclete for us.
Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Amen.

Pope's Mass at Yankee Stadium

photos by fr Sunny John O.Carm.

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Pope at United Nations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThOy4XK8DTs

Video taken by the Digital Camera

Pope is In Big Apple

Photo By Fr Sunny John

I was blessed to greet His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today after his Historical address to the UNited Nation.

http://picasaweb.google.com/vincentocarm/PopeSVisitToUSA

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI
His Holiness The Pope; Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St Peter; Prince of the Apostles; Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church; Primate of Italy ; Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province; Sovereign of Vatican City State; Servant of the Servants of God.
Pope Benedict XVI called himself “a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.” When he was elected as the Pope on April 19, 2005 from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
I do believe that our Pope is Mindful of His predecessor Pope John Paul the Great’s overwhelming popularity and His ability to fire up a crowd. We cannot just ask a person to follow the person who has in our mind as a role model. Most of us only know Pope John Paul II and it will be too much to expect the aged pope Benedict XVI to do the same as he did. Pope Benedict XVI is very humble and knowledgeable man. He is a great thinker and writer and no doubt a great scholar. As the teacher of the Church knows the important and need of our understanding of the Word of God. He focused more on the Scriptures than the dogmas. He invites us to “read the Bible and reread it in a personal dialogue with God.”
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will be 81 on April 16,2008(Today) was 78 years old at the time of his election and was not expected to be a globe-traveler.
Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn(Passau),Germany on April 16, 1927. After his theological studies and Priestly ordination on June 29, 1951, he taught theology in the University of Monaco, Bavaria,Bonn, Munster and Tubingen Regensburg. He was a counselor to Cardinal Frings during the second Vatican Council. On March 24, 1977, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Monaco and Freising, and then Cardinal at the consistory of June 27,1977.On November 25, 1981, Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Ratzinger prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission. Since November 30, 2002, he has been the dean of the College of Cardinals.
On April 19, 2005, the Cardinals gathered at the conclave elected him the new Pontiff, and he took the name of Benedict XVI (which means “the Blessed”) after Pope Benedict XV who was the head of the Catholic Church during the World War I and saint Benedict of Nursia the founder of the Benedictine Monasteries and he was installed on April 24, 2005.
Let me put His Holiness’ words about the coat and the motto “As an Episcopal motto I chose the words from the Third Letter of Saint John:”Collaborators with the Truth’. To follow the truth places one in its service. For around a thousand years, on the coat of arms of the bishops of the diocese of freising there has been a crowned Moor. For me this is an expression of the Universality of the Church, that knows no distinction of race or class, since we are ‘all one’ in Christ(Gal.3:28). Moreover, I chose the image of a shell, which is, above all, a sign of our being pilgrims. And finally, from the legend of Saint Corbinian, founder of the diocese of Freising, I chose the image of the bear that, after eating the saint’s mule, was made to carry his baggage all the way to Rome. This is an expression of my personal destiny, and as Psalm 72:73 says: ‘ I was like a brute beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.”
Prepared By Fr Sunny John O.Carm.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has arrived

The Great Event in USA has arrived and took off the Flag
The Great even began on April 15th 2008 Tuesday afternoon in Washington DC Airport Andrews Air Force Base. His Holiness Pope Benedict VII the 265th Successor of St Peter left Rome at 6am Eastern time today and He was 10Hours in the Alitalia Plane carrying the Pope. The Plane was visible in the Eastern Time from 3.50pm today. At 3:52pm The Flight touched the airport and the Historical event began in USA. Alitalia plane carried two main flags One of USA flag and the Papal Flag and the front door of the Plane had the picture of Coat of Arm of the Papacy. At 4:10pm 100 foot red carpet was spread out and President Bush and first Lady and the first daughter came to welcome His Holiness. Before Pope came out of the Plane the Apostolic Nuncio went into the Plane and at 4:11pm on a sunny day at 58 Degree Celsius. He came out alone and on the ground he greeted the President family and all the Bishops who were there and he started to greet the people around. He was not giving blessing or He followed the path of John Paul II by kissing the ground. To add to this Event this is the First time President is going out of his way and going to the airport to welcome any dignitary. What a great honor for the Pope together to the Catholic community in USA. Thanks to President for his gesture of acknowledgement. At 4:25pm His Holiness with his private secretary who is a Monsgr from Germany and the Apostolic Nuncio and headed to the Nunicature in Washington DC.
Report by Fr Sunny John O.Carm. 4:30pm 4/14/08

Bicentennial celebration

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International celebration Video Clips

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Part 1 preparations:-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Hr3c-eG4Q

Part2 Dinner :-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpUZ9x9Xdw

Part 2 b if you dont see youreself in the part2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clYo4R41FWk

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Thank you for being part of it.

International Clebration

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3rd Sunday After Easter on Eucharist

The Emmaus Journey
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Let’s look closely at the Emmaus supper. Our celebration of the Lord’s Supper , Holy Mass, divides into four parts, or rites: the Gathering Rite, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Dismissal Rite.
We find the same four rites present in the Emmaus supper. The gathering Rite for the Emmaus Supper took place on the Road. When Jesus and the two disciples came together and greeted one another.
The Liturgy of the Word took place when Jesus explained the Scriptures to the two disciples.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist took place in the house of one of the disciples. When Jesus “was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.”
Finally, the Dismissal Rite took place when Jesus “vanished from their sight,” and the disciples went forth to bear witness to their encounter with Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
The evangelist says; they "recognized him in the breaking of the bread." (Lk. 24:35) Here is our problem: dear brothers and sisters Do we really believe and see Jesus when we break the bread of Life?
A Czech priest, Father Peter of Prague, lost his faith in the reality of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist. It might surprise some people to think that a priest might lose his faith in the Eucharist, but sometimes it does occur. Father Peter felt like a hypocrite celebrating the Eucharist while having some doubts about whether the Lord Jesus was truly there. But he hadn’t yet lost his faith in God and, hence, decided to give God the opportunity to give him that faith by doing something quite drastic. In 1263, he decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome, to pray at the tomb of his patron, St. Peter, for the gift of a renewed faith in the Eucharist. When it came to be Sunday, members of the group asked Fr. Peter if he might celebrate Mass for them. More out of courtesy than faith, he assented. They stopped at a small Church dedicated to St. Christina in Bolsena, Italy, and celebrated Mass on a side altar. During the Mass when Father Peter broke the host, as a priest always does to put a particle into the chalice, the host in his hands began to bleed profusely. It bled over his hands. It bled on the corporal and on the altar cloths. It started to pour down the altar onto the steps. The people, beholding the miracle in front of their eyes, started to shriek. The priest of St. Christina’s came to see what all the commotion was about and beheld the miracle with his own eyes. In 1264 Pope Urban IV declared that it is a Eucharistic miracle. Every time we celebrate Mass, what occurred in Bolsena — and in so many other Eucharistic miracles across the centuries — can occur here. Regardless of whether he chooses to do so or not, the reality is the same: we receive the same Christ who bled on the Cross, who bled in Father Peter’s hands. And our reaction to the Eucharist should be the same, whether a dramatic manifestation occurs or not, because it is Christ, God, whom we receive.
That’s why the Church asks all communicants to make a profound bow or genuflection before receiving the Eucharist, to help them to recognize inwardly that they are about to receive the Lord of Lords . I always wonder whether those who leave Mass early after having received the Lord really know that they’ve just received God, or, if they know that, whether they really love him. This time with the Lord here is so much more important than anything else we might want to do after Mass.
When it comes to believing in God we need to surrender our intellect to faith. As St. Paul says, in the Christian life we go by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Can you be humble enough to admit that you do not know it all, and that not knowing it all it is possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping the same appearance? There is a beautiful chant, “Trust, surrender, believe, receive.” Surrender your logic to God and receive the love of God for you! Surrender to God and receive his love.
To some extent, I would suggest, we are, all of us, on an Emmaus journey. We may be perplexed by events in our own lives, disappointments, loss of a job, Loss of a best friend, failure, collapse of a relationship, shattered dreams, and betrayal by friends. We are certainly very, very deeply disturbed by things that are happening in our own personal life and around. And we may feel as helpless and as hopeless as those two disciples did. If so.... if so, we need community. We cannot fight depression alone. We cannot make sense of things alone. We need to lean on one another for support. We need to search the Scriptures together to see what answers they may have for us. And then we can go out and spread this good news.
Sunday Eucharist, should never, never be from a sense of obligation that comes from some Church law, but rather of obligation that comes from a love of Jesus Christ and from a real consciousness that we need this companionship; we need one another; we need to be in community.
A teacher once asked her students which part of the Eucharist or Mass was the most important part. One Student said: the dismissal Rite is the most important part of the Mass.” “Why do you say that?’ the teacher asked.
The Student replied: - “the purpose of the Eucharist is to nourish us with the word of the Lord and the Body and Blood of the Lord, so that we may go forth to bear witness to the Lord and to bring the Kingdom of God into existence. “ He continued ; “the Eucharist does not end with the dismissal Rite. In a sense, it begins with it. We must go forth and proclaim to the world what the disciples of Emmaus did. We must proclaim that Jesus is risen. We must proclaim that Jesus lives on.”
Pope John Paul II wrote in his letter to the priest in 2004 “We were born from the Eucharist. If we can truly say that the whole Church lives from the Eucharist…we can say the same thing about the ministerial priesthood: it is born, lives, works and bears fruit “de Eucharistia.” There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.” And dear brothers and sisters I will add to that there is no catholic faith without the Eucharist. Without believing that Jesus is really and truly and substantially present in the Eucharist.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Divine Mercy Sunday

His Mercy Endures forever!
His mercy endures forever!" These words are echoed several times in Psalm 118. Yes, God's mercy endures forever!
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes 'But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?'So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper. 'Sally just smiled and said, 'Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several day of Johnny doing both his tasks and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'
Yes dear brothers and sisters, whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ...whatever it is...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved. Always remember: God is at the window! God provides. When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you! And he will provide everything for you. This mercy and this forgiveness and this love is what we are celebrating today.
How does God reveal His mercy? He does so, first and foremost, by sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord.
Divine mercy lies behind those encouraging words of Jesus, spoken in today's Gospel: "Peace be with you". Divine mercy is given to us in each celebration of the sacraments. Jesus shows a special Mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The person must be gradually 'healed' of the negative effects which sin has caused him." Said Pope John Paul II.
Saint Faustina Kowalska saw two rays of light coming from Jesus' Heart that was overflowing with generous love, which illuminated the world.The two rays denote blood and water. The blood recalls the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist; the water, according to the rich symbolism of the Evangelist John, makes us think of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit (See Jn 3:5; 4:14).
Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary and showed us His heart to demonstrate how much He loves us. He said to her, "Behold the heart that has loved men so much and has been loved so little in return." He is loved so little in return because we don't really believe. We don't believe in the love of God. We don't believe in the mercy of God.
When Jesus appears to His apostles, he says to them, "Peace be with you." They were not at peace. They knew Jesus Christ, they believed in Him (sort of), but they were not at peace. The only reason we would not be at peace is because we don't trust Him. We don't fully believe. In our heads, we know; but in our hearts, we don't accept. We keep Jesus at an arm's distance so that our lives don't have to change.
When you kneel before the priest and hear those beautiful words of absolution, you walk out with the knowledge, the unshakable knowledge, that your sins have been removed from your soul. They are there no longer. The mercy of God is greater than anything we can do; that is what Our Lord wants us to know. There is nothing we can do that is bigger than Him. He wants, more than anything, to forgive our sins.
What is the worst thing anybody could ever do? Saint Therese of Lisieux tell us; that is like one little drop of water in the ocean of God's mercy. The worst thing, the biggest thing that we could ever commit is like one little drop of water in the ocean because God's mercy is infinite. His love for you is infinite; it is beyond anything we could ever grasp or imagine. As big as our sins might be, they are nothing for the Lord. If you have confessed the sin, it is gone, it is not there anymore.
We need to learn to trust. The devil gets us in many different ways. Devil tries to hook you up through many annoyed Catholics. He tries to convince us that we do not need to be forgiven because we really did not sin. We have numbed our consciences. We sit in front of the TV for hours, filling our minds with garbage, and then we do not think we have done anything wrong.
We need to learn to trust. Trust is one of the most difficult areas in the spiritual life to develop because it will only grow by doing it. Therefore, God has to put you into positions where you have no choice but to trust. We do not like that at all. We complain and we kick and we scream. Then we are not so sure we really want to do these things anymore. "If this is what it means to take up the spiritual life, I quit!" And that is exactly what we do. We pull back and we would rather sit in our unbelief and our untrusting way than to have to be put into a position where we really trust. We all like to say that we trust in Jesus, but when it comes right down to it most of us really do not. We are afraid of letting go of things because we are not sure if God is really going to do what He has promised to do.
We have to ask ourselves what does the word mercy mean. It is not simply forgiveness. Some people say it means God's forgiveness. We know that God is abundant in His forgiveness, but mercy means more than forgiveness. It is forgiveness plus an understanding of our weakness and an abundance of love. We would rather have someone be merciful toward us than simply forgive us. God is the embodiment of mercy. Mercy is where God's justice and love meets, and He is abundant in His mercy. He understands our sins. He forgives us with love. And of course the proper response to the mercy of God is that we be merciful to others. It all comes together in mercy.
Let us pray: "Eternal Father, I offer you the body, blood, soul and divinity of Thy dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for my sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
In the name of The Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.