Divine Mercy Sunday [UPDATED 4/19/20 with homily]

As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday (the 8th Day of the Easter Octave), I recommend praying this prayer service provided by the Magnificat devotional magazine.  (It includes the Sunday Mass readings.)

Here's my homily for today (on YouTube).  

The written notes for that reflection are below (below the Divine Mercy picture).

The Magnificat prayers refer to a traditional hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary for Easter called Queen of Heaven (Regina Coeli).  Here's the YouTube video for that. 

For a lot more information on Divine Mercy Sunday, you might visit the website of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception (an order of priests dedicated to teaching and sharing the Divine Mercy message) for some helpful suggestions for prayers and resources.

My Divine Mercy reflection

Divine Mercy Sunday (April 19, 2020

As we continue through these very difficult circumstances of a worldwide health epidemic, where much of what we thought was normal life seems to have come to a standstill – ground to a halt – either by government order or our own fears, fears of what will happen next of how long this suffering might continue – the Church in some ways does not skip a beat.  She continues to proclaim the Easter message, to celebrate with joy the Resurrection of the Our Lord Jesus.  In fact, today we still celebrate Easter Day.  It is the last day of what is essentially an 8-day continuous celebration of that great feast of the Resurrection– the Octave of Easter to use the technical term.  The liturgical cycle does not get interrupted for anything.

That is fitting, because the message of the Gospel – especially the Easter Gospel – is always relevant to our lives, no matter how challenging or different or difficult the circumstances.  You could even say that this Divine Mercy message – this Easter message – is especially relevant to what is happening right now.

That is because the Gospel opens with a scene when the Disciples are at their point of maximal fear – especially fear of suffering and death.  They know that their Lord, their master, their friend was crucified –put to death in a horrible fashion.  They know that many people know well their relationship with Him and that they might just be caught up in “guilt by association.”  We can picture them consumed with worry and fear as they are cowering in that upper room, with the doors securely locked, trying to keep  the world out.  To make matters worse, night has fallen.  We all know that our fears seem to intensify at night.  Sure they have heard reports from Mary Magdalene that she has seen Jesus alive, but they just don’t know if they can believe her.

We might conjecture that Jesus deliberately waits for the “high point” of their fear and doubt before He appears to them.  When that dread seems to be at a crescendo, then at last He appears and brings them peace. 

We know in hindsight that He is risen and glorified.  The same Christ they knew, but now changed and transformed by that glorious Resurrection.  But they have not yet discovered that. They are not yet ready to experience the fullness of His glory and so He remains mostly hidden – covering His glory – with just a few tell-tale marks of its existence:  above all the glorified wounds.  The wounds that His enemies inflicted to torture Him and humiliate Him – but which now have become a badge of divine and glorious honor , proof of His power over sin and death.

So that when He comes He shows the continuity between His earthly life and His Resurrection life.  The very first thing He proclaims to His disciples is His “Peace.”  His deep-peace, His shalom-peace.  “Peace be with you.”  The fulfillment of His promise that He gave when He was facing His impending suffering.  “My peace I give you.  Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Don’t let your hearts give in to fear!”

This is far, far deeper than some kind of shallow or Pollyanna-ish, Bobby McFerrin “Don’t worry, be happy” message.  It’s a message that goes right to the core of our deepest human longing:  our longing to be united to God, our longing to know that death is not the end, our longing to know that our suffering has meaning, our longing to know that the Divine Love and Mercy of God transcends our trials and to know – if we remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ – that we are destined for eternal happiness, no matter the difficulties we may experience in this life.  Longing to know that, despite any darkness closing in, we may one day dwell in the inexpressible light of the Holy Trinity.

What a completely fitting message for these times, when so many are near the height of their fear; when so many are so focused on illness and death in ways perhaps they have never thought they would be before; when so many people – isolated or quarantined or video-zoomed out – long for the deepest of human connections – and divine.  When the glory of Christ seems to be so hidden in ways that many of us have never experienced before – separated as we are from even the holy Mass.

But the Gospel goes much deeper than just being a message for these passing, traumatic times.  It speaks to every time in our Christian life and goes right to the heart of why Jesus died and rose again.  For the forgiveness of sins.

From the very beginning, we see that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave the peace and power of the Holy Spirit to His disciples not just for their own comfort, their own upbuilding – but as a gift that He intended them to share generously and zealously with the whole Church.   In fact, we see Jesus pouring out upon His Apostles a double-gift of the Holy Spirit.  Quietly breathing the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father and Son on the Disciples on this Easter Day – and as we’ll see in 6 weeks – in a much more sensibly powerful way at Pentecost when the flames of the Holy Spirit shoot down upon their heads from the heavens. 

The Church Fathers tell us that the Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon them twice for a reason: because He wanted to inflame them with a love of neighbor and a love of God.   We see the quiet way that He gives them this greatest of gifts of love of neighbor, taking away their fear in that upper room.   The gift that would allow them to do what is best for their neighbor, no matter what the cost was to them.  And later we’ll see how He impelled them with the power of the Holy Spirit to do what we were all created for: to love God with every fiber of our being, with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. They loved Him so much they would give up their entire lives out of love for His mission.  Quite literally – as all save John the contemplative and the guardian of Mary went out to every corner of the earth proclaiming the Resurrection of Jesus at the cost of their very lives.

It is the Holy Spirit that transformed them from cowards to true Apostles.  But when we reflect on Our Lord giving them love of neighbor – we see something very surprising.  When we hear that phrase “love of neighbor” we might think of charitable programs – soup kitchens, building homes for the poor and so on.  That is certainly a key part of that love.  But not the heart of it.  The heart of love of neighbor is these Apostles – Jesus’ first priests – who are admitted to the powers of the supreme judgment seat bestowing forgiveness.  Out of an unfathomable love for sinful humanity and a heart overflowing with Divine Mercy, when Christ rose from the dead, he entrusted to them the power and authority to forgive sins in His name.  A power and authority given to every Catholic priest ever ordained, in every generation.  So that, as a priest of Jesus Christ, he could be the voice and the hands of the Lord Himself, extending to every penitent who was sorry for his sins and committed to changing His life the new life – the Resurrection life in Christ.

This is truly awe-inspiring, brothers and sisters. You might hear many non-Catholic Christians make the claim that “confession is not in the Bible.”  Apparently, they aren’t reading this Gospel, John 20.  You can’t get much more direct than that: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, Whose sins you retain are retained.”  The words directly out of the mouth of Our Lord.

All this so that, everyone who has the humility to come to Our Lord and Savior in the sacrament of holy confession, can – like St. Thomas – touch the wounded side of Christ.  Touch the nailmarks in his hands and feet.  Can – in the spiritual sense – reach deep in to touch the Sacred Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, burning with Divine Mercy, burning with forgiveness.  All that so that our faith, like that of the Apostles, may be strengthened.

Brothers and sisters, this beautiful sacrament of mercy is still available in most churches – including here in our parishes – even while the Mass has been suspended due to distancing requirements.  I encourage you to experience what Jesus died for.  What the Apostles gave their lives for.  What the Holy Spirit wants to do when He makes your heart new.