Contemplate Boundless Love
Encountering Jesus John 20:19-31
So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Pope Francis’ Reflection
“Seeing” for ourselves
Thomas wanted to “see inside,” He wanted to touch “with his hand the Lord’s wounds, the signs of his love.” This is how Thomas is our twin, because so often we need to know for ourselves that God exists rather than taking others’ word for it. “No, we too need to ‘see God,’ to touch him with our hands and to know that he is risen for us,” the Pope said.
A Love Story
Pope Francis tells us that it is by seeing Jesus’ wounds that the disciples of all time know that we have been forgiven because we “contemplate the boundless love flowing from his heart”, a heart that beats for each person. When Thomas touched the Lord’s wounds, Jesus became “My Lord and my God.” Pope Francis describes the appropriation of God as mine as a “love story.” The uncertain, wavering disciple then falls in love with the Lord telling him: “You became man for me, you died and rose for me and thus you are not only God; you are my God, you are my life. In you I have found the love that I was looking for, and much more than I could ever have imagined,”
A History of Mercy
Pope John Paul II In his 1980 encyclical, Dives in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy”), writes, “Believing in God’s love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensable dimension of love; it is as it were love’s second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in which love is revealed”.
Jesus, I Trust in You
Simply speaking, then, the “Divine Mercy” is another name for the revelation of this magnificent love of God, which culminates in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Christians have long known and praised this abundant mercy.
In this sense, devotion to the Divine Mercy is not new.
Less than a century ago, however, Christians were challenged by God himself to a renewed awareness and trust in His mercy, which has begun to fan the old flame of devotion into a more ardent veneration. Our Lord spoke to a young Polish nun, giving her a timeless reminder for all of humanity:
“Mankind will not have peace,”
He said,“until it turns with trust to My mercy.
Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.”
Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska, born in 1905, was a cloistered nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. On Feb. 22, 1931, Jesus first appeared to Sister Faustina.
Feast of Mercy
Sister Faustina’s encounters with Jesus are considered private revelation — that is, a revelation outside of the deposit of faith, and one which the faithful are not obligated to believe. However, these messages have been officially approved by the Church as containing nothing contrary to faith or morals.
In addition, Pope John Paul II recognized in Sister Faustina’s writings a message that was truly from Christ, and relevant to all of us in every day and age. On April 30, 2000, the first Sunday following Easter, Pope John Paul both canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska and declared in his homily of that day his own desire that the “Second Sunday of Easter … from now on throughout the world will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’”
Prayer For Mercy
Presider
God is the Father of all mercies. In him we place our faith as we pray the following petitions:
Reader
For our Holy Father, Pope Francis, bishops, priests, and all the faithful:
that in this Year of Faith, each will bear witness to the love and mercy of God;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
For all who have committed grave sin and who are afraid to go to confession:
that their fears will dissolve in the face of Jesus’ longing to forgive and be reconciled to them;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
For those who serve in public office:
that they govern with true compassion for the lives of the most vulnerable among us—
especially unborn children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
For parents:
that, by their guidance and the witness of their own lives,
they will teach their children how to love and forgive when they have been wronged;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
For the protection of conscience rights and religious liberty,
and that all people of good will may work together
against the increasing threats to these fundamental rights;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
For peace throughout the world, and especially in areas of open conflict:
that ancient prejudices and hatreds will be replaced by a spirit of mercy and brotherhood;
We pray to the Lord:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
Presider
Almighty and merciful Father, we give you thanks for all of your many blessings, and we ask you to hear these petitions in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.
Vatican Grants Plenary Indulgence
for Divine Mercy Chaplet
New Plenary Indulgence
Because of the pandemic, anyone who, with “the will to fulfil the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father's intentions), as soon as possible,” recites the Divine Mercy Chaplet with the intention “to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself,” can receive a plenary indulgence each day.
This great news was announced in an official decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary on March 20, 2020.
Jesus Song
Tom Booth
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