April 27, 2003

The Second Sunday in Eastertide used to be called “Low Sunday” in common parlance. For some it was a bit of a letdown after the Easter celebration itself. Of course, that contradicts the purpose of the Resurrection, which was a beginning and not an end. The whole Easter season recounts and develops the astonishing events that led up to the Ascension and Pentecost. Now the Second Sunday is officially called “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It celebrates the gratuitous favors the Church receives from our Lord who, in sublime condescension, shows mercy to his people totally beyond anything we deserve.

The Polish nun, recently canonized as Saint Faustina, received private revelations of Christ showing light radiating from his body. This represented his mercy pouring from the Sacred Heart, which is the symbol of the Divine Love that created the universe. So Saint John writes in his First Letter: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him.” The mercy of God is granted to us but for that reason should never be taken for granted. That would be the sin of presumption. So St. John goes on to say: “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.” Some people quote as sentimental justification for doing whatever they want, the famous words of St. Augustine: “Love God and do what you will.” His point really is this: Anyone who truly loves God can only want to do what God wants. This union of wills is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul II, who canonized Saint Faustina, writes: “It is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth, who guides us along the ways of Divine Mercy…On the one hand, the Holy Spirit enables us through Christ’s cross, to acknowledge sin, every sin, in the full dimension of evil which it contains, and inwardly conceals. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit permits us, again through Christ’s cross, to see sin in the light of the ‘mysterium pietatis’ that is, of the merciful and forgiving love of God.” He then commends for our recitation the prayer promoted by Saint Faustina herself: “Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the atonement of our sins and those of the whole world.”

Fr. George W. Rutler