living Mercy

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Today is Divine Mercy Sunday

Jesus revealed to St. Faustyna that on this day he would pour out a whole ocean of graces upon anyone who would go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on this day. Jesus promised they will receive complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.

Pope Benedict extended the time to go to Confession up to twenty days after Divine Mercy Sunday if we go with the intention of fulfilling the requirements of the Feast.

We can receive this great grace of complete forgiveness of sin and punishment for ourselves or we can receive it for a deceased loved one.

Jesus said to St. Faustyna:

Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day (Diary, 83).

I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation. (Diary 1160)

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In the Beatitudes Jesus said, Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will receive mercy.

So we should take advantage of the graces of this Feast Day, but let’s not forget that if we want to receive the Mercy of God, then we must give mercy to others.  

Jesus said to St. Faustyna: If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment.  Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy. (Diary 1317)

Justice is the virtue by which we give others what is rightfully theirs. Mercy goes past strict justice and gives to others what is rightfully ours. Therefore, mercy is to do some good for someone that you don’t have to do. It is a pure gift.

Again Jesus said to St. Faustyna:  

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first, by deed, the second, by word, the third, by prayer.  In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me…Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of My mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted.  By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls.  It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.  Diary 742

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If we want the Mercy of God then we must give mercy to others by deeds, by words and by prayer.

The Catechism teaches us that the works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.

First, the Spiritual works of mercy: Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.

The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God:

If we are to give mercy to others first by our deeds, then what do people need most. In our affluent western society there are certainly people who need food and shelter, but what our wealthy culture suffers from most is loneliness. I call it friendship deficit syndrome. If as we said above, Justice is the virtue by which we give others what is rightfully theirs. Mercy goes past strict just and gives to others what is rightfully ours. That which is most rightfully ours is our time and our freedom to do whatever we want. Therefore, maybe the most important way we can be merciful is to give to people our time and attention in friendship.

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The second way Jesus wants us to give mercy is by our words.

One way to give mercy to someone by your words is to demonstrate just how good it is that they exist and how they make the world a better place just by being in it. How do we do that? Simply get to know them better, by their personal story. It may be the story of their past, how they got to this point today. It may be their current story of what is going on in their life. Or it might be the hoped-for story of their future comprised of their desires and dreams. Either way, one of the greatest acts of mercy is to be genuinely interested in the people in your life, to delight in them and show that you really think the world is a better place just because they are in it. By our words let us express to one another – It is good that you exist, how wonderful you are.

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The third way Jesus commanded us to live mercy is by prayer.

But I think we fail to pray with confidence. Yet, listen to the testimony of the devil himself. Faustyna writes: Taking the form of an apparition the devil said, “Do not pray for sinners, but for yourself, for you will be damned.”  Paying no attention to Satan, I continued to pray with redoubled fervor for sinners.  The Evil Spirit howled with fury, “Oh, if I had power over you!” and disappeared.  I saw that my suffering and prayer shackled Satan and snatched many souls from his clutches.

And don’t say Faustyna’s prayer is more powerful than yours. All the power of prayer rests in the power of Jesus.  The only difference between you and Faustyna is that she recognized the spiritual battle, that souls were at stake and that prayer is a powerful weapon. So have confidence in Jesus and pray for souls – especially through the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary.