Divine Mercy Sunday
one
What is the big deal about Divine Mercy Sunday? Everyone knows God is merciful. What’s the problem out there?
· Is the Problem that People think their sins are too Big to be forgiven?
· Does everybody go around saying that they have sins which are so bad they don’t think they can ever be forgiven?
Hardly. The world isn’t spending all its time feeling guilty.
If you tell people, “God’s so merciful, He’ll forgive even you,” they’ll say,
· “Yeah, I’m sure He will. I know He’s a loving God, and I’m not that bad of a person anyway, so I don’t have any trouble believing His mercy is sufficient to forgive my sins.”
People aren’t worried that God won’t give them mercy, they’re worried He will.
· People are afraid of God’s mercy.
· Afraid of what He might do if we give God permission to do whatever He wants with us.
· We fear giving God unconditional control of our lives.
two
Would you be comfortable praying this prayer – really hoping God would answer it:
My Lord and my God take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God detach me from myself to give my all to you. St Nicholas of Flue
No way! I’m not going to pray that and mean it – are you crazy!
· God will do it!
· He’ll take from me things I like that aren’t good for me.
· He’ll give me things I don’t like that are good for me.
No, I don’t trust him
· In fact – you better keep your distance from God.
· He is dangerous
· He just might ruin the life you’ve worked so hard for.
This is crazy talk…But we all have the same fear of God.
· That is why it is so hard to surrender ourselves to God.
Jesus said to St. Faustyna: “Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul’s distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness.” Diary 300
three
When my kids we’re little and get would splinters in their hands or feet - what should I have done to be merciful to them?
· I should take out the splinters, right?
· That would be the merciful thing to do.
Did my children want my mercy? Did they come to me saying,
· “Merciful father, in your great kindness, please take out our splinters.”
No they did not.
· They ran in the other direction.
· They ran so fast you’d think I took splinters out with a chain saw.
Why? Did they like splinters?
· No, of course not. But taking out splinters hurts.
Now imagine someone whose entire body is covered with splinters.
· Big ones, small ones, all over.
· Like a human porcupine.
That’s what our souls look like. Covered in vices.
· We can’t do anything, we can’t even move, without feeling those vices, those splinters.
· And we know they shouldn’t be there.
· And we know they make us miserable.
· But we also run from God because we know, if we go to Him, He’ll want to take all the splinters out. And that is precisely what we are afraid of.
four
C.S. Lewis talks about God’s determination to remove all our sins, all our vices, all our splinters:
“Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of (like lust or physical cowardice), or which is obviously spoiling daily life (like bad temper or drunkenness). Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment. That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost’ before becoming Christians. ‘Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect – until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you,
as He said He was well pleased with Me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.”
five
Sure, people know about God’s mercy: they know His love is fierce and comprehensive, that when He is merciful - He gives everything, and then asks us everything in return.
That is why we run from God’s mercy. Not because we think He won’t give it to us, but because we know He will, and we’re afraid that His Mercy will ruin us. So instead we say, “That’s alright God, leave me alone, I’ll be fine. I’ll just try to live with the splinters. I’ll try to get used to them.”
And God says, “But I can make you happy!”
And we say, “No! Your happiness is too hard! I have too many splinters: if You start taking them out it’ll hurt and it’ll take forever.”
But He says, “Trust me.” That is why the Message of Mercy is inextricably bound to the Message of Trust. Its why Jesus offered us the Image of Divine Mercy and asked us to write the words “Jesus I trust in you” at the bottom of the Image.
So what is our resolution? Don’t worry, God wont take all the splinter out at once. He’ll only do what you can handle one day at a time.
Surrender yourself to God. Pay attention to what He inspires in you each day in meditation in the Rosary. Then try to practice what He inspire just for that day.
Just for today – that is all He asks.