Today we celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy. We owe this feast day first to Jesus who wanted it, then to Saint Faustina who was the one He chose to make His desire known, and finally to Pope St. John Paul II who promoted this feast. In fact, he said from the beginning of his pontificate, it was his special task to proclaim this message of Divine Mercy. He said he has a burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope.

So, today is big. Last weekend of course was the top; but today is right up there. It is the greatest day of mercy in the whole year which I’ll explain at the end.

So, first of all, what is divine mercy? It is the heart of the gospel. It is the central message of the gospel. It is love in the face of poverty, weakness, brokenness, sin. It is love in the face of suffering. It’s the good news that God doesn’t love us because we’re so good, but because He’s so good. It’s the good news that His love is like water that rushes to the lowest place. It’s the good news that Jesus will leave the 99 to go in search of the one. It’s the good news of His unconditional love.

Consider this. For many of us, from very early childhood, have been conditioned to believe that love has to be earned, we have to be deserving. As very small children, we learn that if we want to be loved we have to be a good boy or a good girl. As we get older, we learn that if we want to be loved we have to be somebody. We have to be smart, or good-looking, or athletic, or musical, or something; we have to have something that makes us appealing and attractive to others. This is the world’s way of love and for many of us, it’s what we know. It is reality. Even devout people in the Church can unwittingly relate to God in this worldly way.  

It isn’t like this with God. Maybe it’s the actuary in me, but to me, it’s kinda like the Catholic view of healthcare. You remember when universal healthcare was a big topic. Well, the Catholic view of healthcare is that ideally, it is given based on need, not on ability to pay. That’s God’s mercy. He gives mercy based on need, not on ability to pay. In the diary of Saint Faustina Jesus said, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy”, P723. Likewise, Saint Faustina speaking to Jesus says: “You are a bottomless sea of mercy for us sinners; and the greater the misery, the more right we have to your mercy”. P793. That’s generally not how we think. Our inclination is to say our best friend has the greatest right to our mercy; Jesus says it’s the greatest sinner, the one most in need.

There’s another issue of rights that I’ve struggled with for years and I just learned something while preparing for this homily that is affecting me very deeply. In the chaplet, we offer Jesus to the Father. For years I’ve wondered how is that possible? I can offer myself, but I can’t offer you; how is it that I can offer Jesus? There have even been times when I refused to pray the chaplet because I said to myself – I can’t do that.

What I never noticed before is that the chaplet is a eucharistic prayer. Eternal Father, I offer you the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ… That’s the eucharist and I never noticed that before.  

Now, in the Mass, the priest, along with all of us, offers Jesus to the Father. Listen to these words from Eucharistic Prayer 1,

Therefore, O Lord, …

We, your servants and your holy people,

Offer to your glorious majesty

From the gifts that you have given us,

This pure victim,

This holy victim,

This spotless victim,

The holy Bread of eternal life

And the Chalice of everlasting salvation.

The priest, along with all of us, offers the Eucharistic Lord to the Father. Now, hear again the words of the chaplet,

Eternal Father, I offer you the body, blood, soul, and divinity

Of your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ…

It’s the same thing. As my son Fr. Chris said so beautifully, the chaplet is an extension of the Mass.  

But the question still remains – by what right can I offer Jesus to the Father? So, I went back to the diary to the place where Faustina first says this prayer. The context is a vision that she has where she sees an Angel of divine wrath and justice about to strike a certain place that she doesn’t name, but she begins to implore the angel to hold off, penance would be done; but she felt like her plea was useless in the face of divine anger. Nothing is happening, and What could she say? Then she saw the Holy Trinity and even more she felt like she could say nothing in the face of divine justice. But then she felt the power of Jesus in her soul, and He gave her the prayer of the chaplet. So, she prayed that prayer, pleading with God for the world, and the angel became helpless.

It was Jesus Himself who gave her that prayer. He gave Faustina, and us, the right to offer Him to the Father to plead for mercy. As the author of one of my textbooks on the Mass put it, “we are given the privilege of ourselves offering what Jesus once offered…” (What Happens at Mass, p.96).   To me, this is beyond words – that Jesus would give someone so undeserving the right to offer Him to the Father to plead for mercy for us, is beyond words.

One more very important thing about the chaplet before getting back to today’s feast. Many of us have family members and friends that we’re worried about in terms of their salvation. Jesus said this “At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the pardon is the same.” P811. Faustina then goes on to recount many occasions where she felt called to pray for a person who was dying and was not in good shape, and when she prayed the chaplet, the person was flooded with God’s mercy and died in peace.  

I began by saying that today is the greatest day of mercy in the year. Jesus said, on this day, the divine floodgates are open. He said, “the soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” P699. And it really is that simple. The Marian Fathers summarize the promise as:   

• Today, go to confession, and receive Him worthily in communion. Or, if we’ve gone to confession recently, that suffices, provided we’re still in a state of grace when we receive communion. That’s it.

(https://www.thedivinemercy.org/celebrate/greatgrace/graces)

A friend of mine said that she heard from a priest that the grace we receive today is like the grace of baptism. Our soul is wiped totally clean.

When we come forward to receive Him in communion, let us come filled with trust and confidence. Remember that mercy is His passion. We all have passions – things we’re passionate about. Jesus’s passion is mercy. So let us come trusting totally in Jesus, that He will do what He has promised.

God bless you all!!!