Risen Christ tells of God’s divine, abundant mercy

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Knowing that Peter had denied him a whopping three times and that most of his apostles had been absent during the crucifixion, the risen Jesus would have had every right to berate his friends – and reel off their sins – when he first appeared to them inside the locked recesses of the Upper Room.

But the risen Lord says nothing about those transgressions and instead tells the confused and fearful group, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus repeats the same message of “Peace be with you” to Thomas, who after having missed seeing the risen Christ the first time around, had told his fellow apostles that he wasn’t going to buy their resurrection story until he could touch Christ’s wounds himself.

“Can you imagine, my sisters and brothers, what happened when the eyes of Thomas and the eyes of Jesus met? I wonder what went through the mind and the heart of Thomas,” said Archbishop Gregory Aymond, speaking to masked congregants filling nearly every pew inside massive St. Joseph Church in New Orleans for the April 11 archdiocesan Mass celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday.

“The risen Christ does not scold (Thomas); he does not belittle him,” the archbishop said. “The risen Christ – who is filled with mercy, filled with compassion, filled with incredible patience – that’s who Thomas encounters.”

St. Faustina’s mission

Celebrated annually on the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday was designated by St. John Paul II in 2000 at the canonization of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun. The now-saint received a series of revelations in the 1930s that a “Feast of Mercy” should be observed as part of the church’s rejoicing in the resurrection and God’s abundant forgiveness. On this day, penitent Catholics throughout the world are encouraged to avail themselves of the sacrament of reconciliation, receive the Eucharist and rededicate themselves to acts of mercy to receive what Jesus told St. Faustina would be “a whole ocean of graces.”

“There is (no sin) so great that God would withhold forgiveness,” said Archbishop Aymond, noting that this boundless mercy is hard to fully grasp, often counterintuitive and therefore sometimes difficult to accept.

“The mercy of God is not something we earn; it’s something that is pure gift, and all we can say is ‘thank you‘ and nothing else,” the archbishop said. “Jesus is not stingy with his mercy; he’s not stingy with his compassion; he’s not stingy with his patience.”

Again, given Jesus’ forgiveness of his apostles’ clear abandonment of him on Calvary, “why wouldn’t Christ treat us with the same kindness and offer us the same exact gift (of mercy) as he comes into the messiness of our lives,” Archbishop Aymond said, adding that Jesus has the same message for us today – “Peace be with you.”

One stumbling block to receiving God’s mercy is people’s fear of letting Jesus into the “messiness” of their lives, Archbishop Aymond said. To conquer those feelings of unworthiness, the archbishop encouraged Mass congregants to flip the script of “Doubting Thomas” and ask Jesus to “touch my wounds” and heal me. He said Catholics are blessed to have the support of two wonderful sacraments given to us by Jesus: Eucharist and confession.

“(Jesus) wants to be in the messiness of our lives because he comes to bring true repentance; he comes to bring true forgiveness,” Archbishop Aymond said.

‘As we forgive those who trespass against us’

The archbishop concluded with an examination of one more important aspect of God's mercy. If we are to be the beneficiaries of divine mercy, then it is also contingent upon us to extend “human mercy” to those who have hurt us.

On that score, Archbishop Aymond asked Mass congregants to identify a person in their lives to whom they were struggling to show mercy.  Also, as a way to reverse the current national climate of societal divisiveness, finger-pointing and name-calling, the archbishop suggested this simple prayer adapted from Psalm 141: “Lord, please place a guard at the door of my lips.”

Interestingly, the archbishop said “love”– popular culture’s frequently cited solution to all the world’s ills – just isn’t enough.

“The song goes, ‘what the world needs now is love.’ I disagree with that; I don’t think that’s true,” he said. “What our world needs now is mercy. That leads us to love!”

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