A Beacon Of Light… The Loving Mercy Of The Divine Savior

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Jr.

Throughout our lives God continually invites us to participate in His plan of salvation. We, however, are often distracted and lose our way. We begin with good intentions but along the way we encounter detours that lead us off the path of salvation. Often these detours are the cause of temptation and sin. The evil one, or Satan, is the master of detours. All he wants is for us to be continually distracted so that we can never find our way back. The evil one tricks us into thinking there is no way out; that we cannot reform our terrible ways. This is false and there is a way out!
In the final days of Holy Week, we are faced with the dilemma of this battle of corruption that existed in the lives of the apostles. In the final moments of Jesus’ life, we find two betrayers, Judas the Iscariot and Peter. Each betrayed Jesus, but their outcomes were very different. Looking at Judas Iscariot, we see a man who was consumed with temptation and evil. Because of this, he accepted thirty pieces of silver in order to hand our Lord over to the wicked. In the end Judas finally realized his grave error, but because evil had “entered him,” he could not recognize the love of the Lord and accept forgiveness. In the end, he is filled with despair and hangs himself.
St. Peter, on the other hand, betrays Jesus three times. The difference between St. Peter and Judas is that St. Peter recognizes Jesus’ compassion and mercy. While Judas allowed the despair to cripple his ability to recognize God’s loving forgiveness, St. Peter accepted the forgiveness and allowed it to transform the betrayal and denial into love again. We saw this in the encounter after the Resurrection at the Sea of Tiberius. After recognizing the Lord, Jesus asked St. Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter responded by saying yes to the Lord. Three times Jesus asked, and three times Peter responded with his love.

Prayers And Readings On Mercy

Therefore, Sunday, April 15, was such an important day for the Church, celebrating the Feast of Divine Mercy. This feast was revealed by the Lord to the Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, as an invitation to save souls. As recorded in Diary entry 965, Jesus said to Faustina: “Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them…the Feast of My mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice is near.”
Jesus sees the difficulties of man and the terror of sin that surrounds them, and He asks the Church to establish this Feast of His Mercy to be a “lifeline” for the human soul.
Interestingly enough, not only did Jesus instruct the Church to celebrate this Feast but in His visions to St. Faustina He also was explicit when it was to take place. The answer was given directly to St. Faustina on numerous occasions. For example, in Diary entry 299, Jesus said to her: “I desire that the First Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy.” Today that Sunday is called in the Roman Missal, “The Second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday.”
This day was important because the liturgical prayers and readings show us God’s mercy. For example, there is the Gospel reading about Jesus appearing in the upper room on Easter Sunday night, bestowing a blessing of peace on His apostles, and giving them authority to forgive sins in His name. The epistle is taken from the first chapter of I Peter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has given us a new birth as His sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead.” Even the opening prayer for the Mass begins with the words, “God of mercy. . . .”

A Refuge And Shelter

Having revealed His desire and designating a day dedicated to mercy, Jesus now instructs St. Faustina for whom this Feast is most important. Jesus clearly states: “I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls” — that is, for all penitent souls without exception — but especially for “poor sinners.”
So, the special guests at the Feast of Mercy — the guests who will receive the most attention — are those like the Fatima Prayer says: “Those who are most in need of His mercy.” Even so, the Feast of His Mercy is open to all sinners who genuinely choose to seek out His mercy. Those who are unwilling, or have closed their hearts to the Lord, will not gain the graces He wants to bestow. What are the graces and blessings Jesus wants to bestow on His children? Again, Jesus said to St. Faustina (Diary entry 699):
“On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are open all the divine floodgates through which graces flow.”
Included in the visions of the Lord to St. Faustina were three other instructions to assist us in living this mercy. First, He wanted priests to clearly proclaim the message of Divine Mercy on Mercy Sunday. Diary entry 570: “On that day, priests are to tell everyone about My great and unfathomable mercy.” Diary entry 1521: “Hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart.” Second, Jesus asked that the Image of The Divine Mercy be publicly venerated on this feast day. In Diary entry 341, for example, Jesus said to St. Faustina: “I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it.” Finally, Jesus made it very clear to St. Faustina that in preparation for the Feast of Mercy we need to be merciful to others, through our actions, words, and prayers.
If we do not practice works of mercy in our lives, then our celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday would be a kind of blasphemy, rather than an offering pleasing to the Lord (Micah 6:6-8): “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God…. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy…. I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it” (Diary entry 742).
Having discussed the Lord’s desire to offer us this great Feast of His Mercy, how can we celebrate it in our daily lives? The best way is to go to Confession! Seek out the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. Cleanse our souls of the dirt and grime that has piled up as the residue of our sins. Second, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. This Chaplet was also revealed to St. Faustina as a tool to help us live our lives as people of mercy.
May our souls be touched with the loving mercy of the Divine Savior.