FROM THE CATHOLIC LITURGY FOR DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY, April 23, 2017. John
20:19-31. In today’s Gospel, John invites us into the secret locked room
where we join in the conversation between the Apostles on that first Easter
Sunday night. We can imagine how
animated and puzzled they were as they recount what Mary Magdalen and the Holy
Women have told them: stories of angels announcing the Resurrection; of them
having spoken with & touched the Risen Jesus.
Then, Jesus is
suddenly in their midst! And I am astounded by what he ays to them, or rather by
what he does NOT say! He says “Peace be
with you” twice…but I am flabbergasted by this. I expect him to say: “You knuckleheads,
you fair weather friends! Where were you when I was taken? Why did you all run
away?” But I expect Jesus to say such things because I am a sinner, selfish,
payback-oriented.
But Jesus is ALL MERCY. Mercy is
tender compassion and forgiveness, it is understanding and consoling. Jesus
shows his wounds which are the proof of his mercy and by which our sins have
been erased from the books of our lives. That is why today we celebrate the 2nd
Sun of Easter as DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
Then Jesus
goes on to say something unimaginable to the Apostles, “Whose sins you forgive
are forgiven them…”Sinful, selfish, unfaithful men become ambassadors of God’s
mercy, instruments of reconciliation, agents of forgiveness! This is the
institution of the Sacrament of Penance & Reconciliation, which we call Confession.
Two
astounding acts of mercy happen in Confession.
First, we receive the certainty
of forgiveness. We do not need to wonder
or hope that we are forgiven, that God has “heard” us. Second, in this
sacrament we encounter more than just forgiveness…we receive absolution which includes forgiveness
but goes beyond it. Absolution is the total annihilation of our sins by the
merit of the Blood of Jesus. When we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation it
is as if God says to us: “My son has used his wounds to erase these sins…they
are no more…go in peace.”
ASTOUNDING. AMAZING. THE
UNFATHOMABLE MERCY OF GOD!
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