Divine Mercy – Peace
Second Sunday of Easter (or Sunday of Divine Mercy)
Lectionary: 43
(English excerpted from bilingual homily)
Peace be with you, Jesus says.
Sin robs us of peace with God.
Serious sin has two personal consequences.
The first consequence is eternal — hell. Forgiveness of sins eliminates this consequence. We receive forgiveness through the Sacrament of Penance. We heard about that in today’s Gospel, where Jesus gave them the authority to forgive sins.
The second consequence we call temporal punishment for sin. Adam and Eve sinned, and were forgiven, but they still had to leave the Garden of Eden. Sin has consequences. They are not eternal, but have an end, which is why it is called “temporal.” This is just, because sins deserve punishment, and it is also merciful, because it teaches us the evil of sin to help prevent us from falling again.
The temporal consequence of sin is somewhat like what happens when you pull a nail out of a board. The nail, or the sin, is removed, but the consequence, or the hole, remains.
Penance (prayer, fasting, almsgiving, works of mercy and suffering patiently) remits temporal punishment. If necessary, God offers us the gift of Purgatory, until the consequences of sin are completely erased from our souls.
Why am I talking about the consequences of sin today, on the Second Sunday of Easter? Because today is Divine Mercy Sunday.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus came to his disciples again one week later. Again, they are hiding behind locked doors. Again, Jesus offers them peace.
And, here we are. It is one week after Easter. We are hiding away behind locked doors.
And Jesus is offering us peace.
Jesus is offering us peace with God in a unique and powerful way.
Divine Mercy Sunday comes from messages from Jesus to Saint Faustina, in Poland. The Church is always careful with these things, but after years of study, the Church gave approval to the message of mercy and peace she brought us from Jesus.
Jesus came to Saint Faustina and told her “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. 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…”
This is a very unusual promise. It is a very simple promise.
Go to Confession, and receive Holy Communion with trust in Jesus Christ, and obtain complete forgiveness of sins, and of the eternal and temporal punishment for those sins.
That’s it. If we do this, we will receive a complete renewal of our Baptismal grace. We will be just as pure as the day we were first baptized.
Even in this time of pandemic, we can still receive this incredible gift of Divine Mercy
If we cannot go to Confession, we can make an Act of Perfect Contrition, with a promise to God that we will go to Confession when we can. This means praying something as simple as: “God, I am sorry for my sins, because I love you. Please forgive me. Please help me.”
If we cannot receive Communion, we can make a Spiritual Communion. Spiritual Communion is a loving desire in our hearts to receive our Lord, although we cannot receive him physically.
One way to express this love is with a prayer like this:
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Blessed Sacrament.
I love you above all things and I desire you in my soul.
Come spiritually into my heart.
I believe you are there, and unite myself to you.
Do not let me ever be separated from you.
Jesús, I trust in you… confío en ti. Amen.
Jesus is waiting to pour out this gift of Divine Mercy to wash away our sins. Do not delay. Today, wherever you are, while you are watching this mass, make a perfect Act of Contrition out of love of God, then make a Spiritual Communion.
If we will do this, Jesus has promised that he will pour out the graces of his mercy in a torrent, limited only by our trust in him. We will have perfect peace.
