Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,

This, the second Sunday of Easter, we celebrate “Divine Mercy Sunday”. In Hebrew, Hesed, God’s enduring mercy and love. God’s Hesed is proclaimed throughout scripture and sung about in Psalm 136 a portion of which is quoted above. We are the undeserving recipients of His Hesed.

In today’s Gospel, we heard: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” God’s Mercy. To the distress of Jewish leaders of His day, Jesus forgave sins. They questioned and challenged Jesus asking by whose authority He forgave sins. In the scripture passage above, Jesus passes that authority to His Apostles who passed it on to their disciples all the way down to our priests today. It is a ministry I treasure.

In the past century, three individuals from Poland whose lives overlapped each other—but yet they never met here on earth– championed God’s Mercy. I refer to Sister Faustina, Saint Maximilian Kolbe and the pope, St. John Paul II. Saint Kolbe was a living sign of God’s Mercy. His act of taking another Man’s place in the execution chamber was the capstone of his life. Could you or I show that kind of Mercy? Pope Saint John Paul II also lived God’s mercy through his teachings and personal life. Remember when he met with the man who attempted to assassinate him? He didn’t shout, condemn, or berate the man. No, St. John Paul forgave the man. Could you do that? The second encyclical written by him is named Dives in misericordia. He has been named The Great Mercy Pope. St. John Paul was aware of an obscure Polish nun called Sister Faustina. As pope, he promoted her message of Mercy and established today’s feast. We know the story of Sister Faustina. She received beautiful and challenging messages from the Lord about our need to REPENT and graciously accept God’s gift of Mercy. Above is the incredible picture painted of her vision of Christ in His Mercy.

Tuesday, April 14th, at Soup and Catholic we will dive deeper into her life and message of mercy. We will meet at St. Helen’s Hall at 6:30 p.m. to share delicious homemade soup with each other. Then we will move into our presentation on Sister and Divine Mercy. I hope to see you there.

In God’s Mercy,

Fr. Ian