What constitutes God’s mercy and if we were to benefit from it, we should have a deeper appreciation of what mercy truly is.
Historically, this devotion stemmed from a private revelation to a Polish religious named Faustina Kowołska. In our day and age, where scientific progress appeared to have purged out what science considered to be superstitious beliefs and practices, adopting this private piety feels like a step backwards. Voices have raise concerns that the proclamation of Mercy Sunday capitulates to the pietism which the modern Church has been trying to shake off since Vatican II. Moreover, from the perspective of Christian unity, taking on an extra-scriptural devotion sounds like a regressive ecumenical mistake.
Surprisingly, this mindless recitation has sound theological and scriptural foundation. There is a correlation between Revelation in Sacred Scripture and popular piety. The latter is faith taking roots in the religious practices of believers. Two examples are the liturgical celebrations of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the procession of Corpus Christi. Both came via private revelations. Then, there is also the Hail Mary of the Rosary which we have accepted for the longest time and also a prayer based on Sacred Scripture.
The Catechism asserts that belief in divine mercy is central to our faith because "The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners" (CCC#1849). This makes the Gospel a profound narrative of God’s divine mercy. Pope Benedict would say that Divine Mercy is not merely a devotion but it is truly an integral part of Christian faith and prayer. Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel message.
The central message proclaimed by St Faustina is the overwhelming love of Jesus for sinners. It is true that God’s complete Revelation took place in Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. But today the most glaring lapse in the prophetic message of the Divine Mercy is the wholesale ignorance of sin. We have simply forgotten sin is the reason for God’s mercy. St. Francis de Sales explained that “even if God had not created man, He would still be perfect charity, but in reality He would not be merciful, for mercy can only be exercised over misery. Even though no one deserves mercy, it is available to all”.
This discourse about sins sounds rather anti-climactic since today falls within the Octave of Easter whereas the penitential spirit has been expressed in the previous season of Lent. The truth is, we cannot escape the reality that we are sinners and for that reason God reaches out to us with His mercy. He wants to save us and redemption is premised on the acceptance that we are sinners.
Thus, Divine Mercy has for its aim the salvation of souls. Even the Gospel makes clear that the appearance of Jesus on the 8th day is linked to the Sacrament of Confession. The topic of sin is not as out of place as it sounds for right in the heart of the Resurrection, we have a place for reconciliation. Conversion of sinners is a kind of healing from the effects of sins. Mercy is therefore grace for sinners to turn back to God.
This makes the acknowledgement of sin important because it is the first step to justice. Sadly though, a self-absorbed, convenience-accustomed and therapy-dependent society can only crave for mercy. Added with the harsh realities of life, the lack is sorely felt as some have expressed disappointment at a deity that comes across as cold and distant. In other words, we do not fully grasp the notion of mercy as much as we hunger for what we think mercy should be ours by right.
It follows logically that this devotion will run the risk of irrelevance due to the loss of faith in God. In the absence of God, mercy will lose its mooring to justice. Without justice, mercy will merely be indulgence. This would be the case if we were entitled. It is as if life owes us niceties. This unquestioned premise in an entitled attitude is natural because we expect a loving God to bend over backwards to accede to our demands. Since He is a loving God, His duty is to treat us well and if we were suffering, all the more that “justice” would require a deity who makes life easy for us. He should allow us the freedom to be who we want, what we want and how we want.
But that is not the just mercy of God even though Our Lady reminded us in the Magnificat that “His mercy is from age to age”. Instead, every generation needs to respond to His salvific mercy by not just accepting it but also by fighting against the evils of our time. The excessive sense of the self, the individualism we foster will not lead to peace but our destruction. In place of focusing on what we are entitled to, perhaps attention should be paid to cooperating with God’s grace so that His mercy might be extended to our generation.
God’s mercy grants us time for conversion and to exercise His mercy towards others. “For I was hungry and you gave me food”. Divine Mercy is not just to receive God’s benevolence and kindness but it is also an invitation to each one of us to imitate God’s mercy through our exercise of both the spiritual and corporal acts of mercy.
In other words, there is nothing new in this devotion. Except that we ought to deepen our experience of conversion into God’s great love for us and also to extend that mercy we have received towards others. God’s mercy is not “soft”, instead it is rather demanding. This is evidently so in this culture of death where it is assumed that everyone gets to heaven, no matter what. St John Paul in a 1997 visit to the Divine Mercy Shrine repeated his message in the encyclical “Dives in misericordia” that “At no time and in no historical period…can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it . . . The more the human conscience succumbs to secularisation, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word 'mercy', moves away from God and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy ‘with loud cries’” (DM,15).
Mercy is God’s last word with mankind. He always wants to save. But salvation can only be effected if we say yes to Him. The Octave of Easter is a logical continuation of the glorious Resurrection of Christ. He has redeemed us and continues to invite us each to taste His merciful love by submitting ourselves to the conversion necessary for the full flowering of His salvation.
God’s mercy grants us time for conversion and to exercise His mercy towards others. “For I was hungry and you gave me food”. Divine Mercy is not just to receive God’s benevolence and kindness but it is also an invitation to each one of us to imitate God’s mercy through our exercise of both the spiritual and corporal acts of mercy.
In other words, there is nothing new in this devotion. Except that we ought to deepen our experience of conversion into God’s great love for us and also to extend that mercy we have received towards others. God’s mercy is not “soft”, instead it is rather demanding. This is evidently so in this culture of death where it is assumed that everyone gets to heaven, no matter what. St John Paul in a 1997 visit to the Divine Mercy Shrine repeated his message in the encyclical “Dives in misericordia” that “At no time and in no historical period…can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it . . . The more the human conscience succumbs to secularisation, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word 'mercy', moves away from God and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy ‘with loud cries’” (DM,15).
Mercy is God’s last word with mankind. He always wants to save. But salvation can only be effected if we say yes to Him. The Octave of Easter is a logical continuation of the glorious Resurrection of Christ. He has redeemed us and continues to invite us each to taste His merciful love by submitting ourselves to the conversion necessary for the full flowering of His salvation.
