Divine Mercy: A Message of Love to Be Proclaimed

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Bishop of Arlington
(From the issue of 4/22/04)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde during the Mass celebrated for the second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church on April 18.

The image being projected before us by today’s scripture readings and by today’s Feast of Divine Mercy is the key to living life here and hereafter. The image is that of Jesus Himself.

In today’s Gospel account according to St. John, Jesus stands before the disciples on Easter night and again one week later. Both times, Jesus greets them with "Peace be with you." On Easter Sunday night, Jesus gives the disciples the power to forgive sins in His name and one week later He calls Thomas from his lack of faith to profound faith: "My Lord and my God."

In today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation, Jesus is pictured as "one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest," Who says, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives."

Today’s Feast of Divine Mercy recalls the apparition of Jesus to St. Faustina. He was clothed in a white garment. His right hand was raised in blessing while His left hand was touching His garment at the breast, where two large rays came forth, one red, the other pale. Jesus told St. Faustina: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You."

The Jesus described in today’s Gospel and second reading, and pictured in St. Faustina’s vision: this Jesus stands before us now. He is with us now, invisible yet present before us. He is present in His Word, which we just heard proclaimed in our hearing; He is present in the priests, who act in His Person; He is present in this community of believers; He is really and uniquely present in the Eucharist and soon He will come to us in Holy Communion, body and blood, soul and divinity. Yes, Jesus is present to us right now, as He once was present to the disciples on Easter, to St. John on the island of Patmus and to St. Faustina in Poland.

Why is Jesus so central to our minds and hearts today? Why is He being projected before us so clearly? Because Jesus is the answer — the only answer — to the mysteries and puzzles of life! He is the key to living life here and hereafter! He is our all! Astronaut Rick Husband put this so convincingly in a note he left with his pastor just weeks before his sudden and tragic death on Feb. 1, 2003: " … tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me."

Yes, Jesus is everything to us, our all! By His Dying and Rising, He has bridged the gap separating us from God, thereby reconciling us with our God and leading us back to God and to real life! Sin separates, but mercy — Divine Mercy — reunites and reconciles us!

Jesus is the revelation of God’s mercy. The message of God’s mercy is so needed at this time. That is why Jesus’ apparitions to St. Faustina are so timely. Our Holy Father reminds us in these words. "The message of merciful love needs to resound forcefully anew. The world needs this love. The hour has come to bring Christ’s message to everyone: to rulers and the oppressed, to those whose humanity and dignity seem lost in the mysterium iniquitatis [the mystery of iniquity]. The hour has come when the message of Divine Mercy is able to fill hearts with hope and to become the spark of a new civilization of love" (Homily at Blonie Park in Krakow, Aug. 18, 2002).

"The hour has come to bring Christ’s message to everyone!" For us in this parish, that hour is now! Many among us have walked in procession earlier this evening and arrived here where Jesus, Divine Mercy Himself, is uniquely present in the Blessed Sacrament — here where the renewal of His Dying and Rising is made present at every Mass. From here, the parish’s Popular Mission receives the energy and strength it needs to be an instrument of God’s call to conversion of mind and heart and of His call to return to the full practice of our Catholic faith.

For the next eight weeks, people within our parish will be invited to open their hearts to Jesus through a series of catechesis. After all, "‘at the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father … who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever’. … Cathechesis aims at putting ‘people … in communion … with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity’" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 426). Through this series of catechesis, Jesus will be known and loved more deeply by everyone in this parish, beginning with each family. Families will be joined together in small Christian communities, which in turn will involve the entire parish as a community of communities.

Yes, everyone in this parish can be drawn closer to Jesus: those who already practice the faith, but could do so with greater fervor and intensity, those who have drifted away from Catholic practice for whatever reason, those who claim to no longer believe and those who are being called to believe for the first time. Here in this parish, the closing words of today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles will be fulfilled: "And they were all cured" — of their unbelief and indifference and neglect.

It is not mere coincidence that this parish begins its Popular Mission on Divine Mercy Sunday. We who have been embraced by Jesus and His Mercy must now proclaim the Gospel of Mercy in a new and bold way in every part of this parish. "The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1846). Yes, embraced by Divine Mercy, we are sent forth, tonight and in the days and weeks ahead, to be heralds of God’s mercy. By our witness even more then by our words — though words are also necessary, let us invite everyone: "Come home, come back to Jesus Who is love and mercy and Who is waiting to welcome you into His Heart and into His life forever!

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