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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment