JESUS: MERCY PERSONIFIED

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

BEATIFICATION OF JOHN PAUL II

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This second Sunday of Easter is a great historical event when the Church and the world will witness the beatification of one of the greatest popes in history, John Paul II.  He will be beatified this Sunday which is the Divine Mercy Sunday.  From his death bed came his last written words that he had prepared to be read on Divine Mercy Sunday, the day after his passing. They were read, as follows:

“As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the Risen Lord offers His love that pardons, reconciles, and reopens hearts to love. It is love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy! Lord, who reveal the Father’s love by Your Death and Resurrection, we believe in You and confidently repeat to You… Jesus, I trust in You, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world. Amen.”

About the feast day of the  “Divine Mercy Sunday”, Jesus said to St. Faustina “… tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy.  I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially poor sinners.  On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open.  I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon the souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy.  On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.  Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet....  Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy”.  (Diary 699)

The Church offers PLENARY INDULGENCE during this day after fulfilling the requirements of Confession, attending the Holy Mass and Holy Communion and praying one Our Father and the Creed for the intention of the Holy Father. 

          Nobody has ever seen the face of God. When Jesus incarnated himself as man, for the first time, the face of God had been revealed and he looked just like us.  The Incarnation is God’s act of mercy and Jesus is the personification of that mercy.  It is through this mercy that man is able to experience the compassion of God.  It is a gratuitous gift given to us not because we deserve it but because it is the fruit of God’s justice and love for us.  It was on the cross when the soldier pierced Jesus’ breast when the floodgates of Divine Mercy opened up for humanity represented by water and blood that flowed from his side.  This has been represented by the icon of the Divine Mercy given to St. Faustina. It was on Easter that the fullness of God’s mercy was given to us.

          “O Blood and Water that gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, we trust in you.”