DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY: TOTAL EXPIATION OF ALL SINS AND PUNISHMENTS

On April 22, 2001, a year after establishing Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope John Paul II said: "Jesus said to St. Faustina one day: '"Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy."'

The devotion which was started by St. Faustina Kowalska was part of her encounter with Jesus which included special promises from Jesus Himself. One great promise was the grace of TOTAL EXPIATION OF ALL SINS AND PUNISHMENTS if one goes to sacramental confession (anytime before the day) and receives holy communion on that day. It means that one would go straight to heaven after death without suffering purgatory just like what martyrs received. (We believe that when one dies in the state of grace, we still will undergo purification, purgatory, and an expiation of sins before we go to heaven. The Divine Mercy grace eliminates this stage.)

Divine Mercy. Divine is clear to us. It is God. Mercy comes from "Misericordia," which means "suffering heart." God's heart suffers with us. But it does not stop suffering with us. Divine Mercy comes with compassion. God did something to free us from sin, and this time, through the message to St. Faustina, freedom from punishment. This is aptly depicted by the image of the Divine Mercy which shows the risen Christ streaming two rays from His heart; red for the blood of Jesus which is the life of souls and pale for the water which justifies souls.

The feast reminds us of the goodness of God expressed in His Mercy. The announcement of the feast was not really a surprise. If we know our salvation history, the succeeding events, and our present, Divine Mercy has always been in effect. God, through His People and the Church, had been generously giving Mercy.

His Mercy was taught by Jesus in His parables (Prodigal Son, Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Vine and the Branches, Unforgiving Servant, and Adulterous Woman, to name some.) It was also given to the paralytic, Zacchaeus, St. Peter, Dimas, St. Magdalene, St. Paul, St. Augustine, you, me, and many others. God's Mercy is everlasting. The name of God is Mercy.

The Divine Mercy finds its availability in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is a beautiful sacrament in the sense that God, represented by the priest, encounters His beloved, the penitent. A good confession will result in a beautiful reconciliation experience. It includes having an examination of conscience before coming to confession, being honest and not deliberately omitting relevant details regarding the sin, heeding the counsel of the priest, accomplishing the penance given, and committing to what was promised in the Act of Contrition.

Divine Mercy is about our relationship with God. Divine Mercy expressed in forgiveness restores the broken relationship we have with God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation was a fruit of God's saving action in Jesus Christ which started in Incarnation and culminated in the resurrection. Needless to say, He did everything to win us back. We ought to maintain a good relationship with God. It is interesting that in human relations we do great things for the one we love. We make a lot of sacrifices. When forgiven, we try so hard to never offend or sin again against them. And in most cases, we succeed. At least, the same commitment must be given to God. Divine Mercy should not go to waste. While it is overflowing, we miss its fruits whenever we waste it. God will never get tired of being merciful to us. He will even go after us, search for us, find us to offer mercy. If Divine Mercy will not benefit us, it was not because God withheld it from us, but because we rejected it.

Divine Mercy does not end with us. It must be shared. We may not be divine in the level of God but we can transcend our humanity and have an experience of the divine in sharing mercy through forgiveness. God is our standard in mercy. Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Thus, when the opportunity comes to render mercy, grab it! After all, as in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."