Our Lady of Mercy

Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God's mercy. She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother of mercy: our Lady of mercy, or Mother of divine mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive, through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which “from generation to generation” people become sharers according to the eternal design of the most Holy Trinity.

-Saint John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia

Sacred Heart Of Jesus, Have Mercy On Us

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Saint John Paul II was particularly fascinated by the Mystery of the Divine Heart—the gentle and lowly heart of Jesus which poured forth blood and water as a fountain of mercy for us. 

One way to meditate upon the “riches of the Heart of Christ,” is by praying the beautiful litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pray it here today. And perhaps make this prayer a part of your daily devotion, especially during the month of June, which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

                                                 Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. 
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. 

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us. 
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mother's womb, have mercy on us.

Jesus, The Face Of The Father’s Mercy

This week, the Vatican announced more specific details about the upcoming Year of Mercy. They also introduced a logo for the Holy Year. There has been much excitement about this Jubilee –which is to begin this coming December, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception—especially on Divine Mercy Sunday when Pope Francis released Misericordiae Vultus, the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

The Holy Father called for this Year of Mercy, because we “need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy.” He continues:

It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.

We also need to contemplate this beautiful mercy, “so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s action in our lives.” If the Church does not show the world mercy, then how will the world know of the all-merciful Father? How will they know of His presence? Of His love for us? Pope Francis declared this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as a time for the Church “when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective.”

There would be no Year of Mercy if it weren’t for the Pope of Divine Mercy. During his presentation at the Shrine last month, Andreas Widmer said that this Holy Year is "one of the many fruits of the teachings of John Paul."

Love Is Not Resentful

Saint John Paul II forgives Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who made an attempt on his life.
(CNS photo / Arturo Mari, L'Osservatore Romano)

As we’ve said here before, Lent is a time for conversion. It is therefore an “appropriate time for a profound re-examination of life,” Saint John Paul II wrote in his 2001 Message for Lent. The Lord gives us this opportunity to draw closer to Him, and so we must look closely at ourselves in order to see what’s holding us back.

One of those things that might be inhibiting us from reconciliation with Christ is our own refusal to reconcile our differences with others. Yet, forgiveness is the only path to peace in our relationships. And so it is the only path to peace in our relationship with God. Saint John Paul II wrote:

Forgiveness given and received enables a new kind of relationship among people, breaking the spiral of hatred and revenge and shattering the chains of evil, which bind the hearts of those in conflict with one another.

Now reconciling with others is no easy feat. This step towards conversion cannot be taken unless that conversion has already begun, with the grace of God as its guide. As the sainted pontiff wrote, one must trust in God as the Lord’s disciples did:

Brothers and sisters! In commenting upon the Lord’s teaching as he journeys to Jerusalem, Saint John Chrysostom recalls that Christ does not leave the disciples ignorant of the struggles and sacrifices that await them. Jesus stresses that it is hard but not impossible to renounce oneself when one can count on God’s help bestowed on us “through communion with the person of Christ.”

With God’s help and with a “fresh experience of his mercy,” giving and receiving forgiveness is possible, no matter how much hurt there is. God’s grace makes it easier to apologize, to accept an apology, to confess, and to accept forgiveness. And in these moments of reconciliation, there is so much peace. There is so much love!

The Jubilee Of Mercy

Last Friday, Pope Francis announced an extraordinary Jubilee dedicated to Divine Mercy. This Holy Year will begin on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception this coming December, and it will end on November 20, 2016—the Sunday we celebrate Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

The theme for this Jubilee Year comes from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, in which St. Paul names God as “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4). Pope Francis challenges us to believe that this mercy is for us. He also challenges us to share it with others:

The call of Jesus pushes each of us never to stop at the surface of things, especially when we are dealing with a person. We are called to look beyond, to focus on the heart to see how much generosity everyone is capable. No one can be excluded from the mercy of God; everyone knows the way to access it and the Church is the house that welcomes all and refuses no one. Its doors remain wide open, so that those who are touched by grace can find the certainty of forgiveness. The greater the sin, so much the greater must be the love that the Church expresses toward those who convert.

Saint John Paul II led the Church through two Jubilee Years, in 1983 and 2000. Let us ask him and the Mother of Mercy to pray for the Church as she prepares to embark on this Holy Year.

This Prodigal Son Is Every Human Being

Those who know the parable of the prodigal son, remember this story as a beautiful portrayal of the rich mercy of God. A son leaves his father, squandering every gift that he inherits. He ends up in a place very far from his father’s love and care, where he lives hungry and unsatisfied. He eventually comes to himself in this place, realizing that his father’s servants live more satisfied that he does. So he decides to humbly return to the father who loves him. Rather than rebuke his son, the father “embraced and kissed him” upon his return, treating the young man with more mercy than anyone reading the story might think he deserves (Luke 15:11-32).

In his Apostolic Exhortation, “Reconciliation and Penance,” Saint John Paul II writes:

This prodigal son is every human being: bewitched by the temptation to separate himself from his Father in order to lead his own independent existence; disappointed by the emptiness of the mirage which had fascinated him; alone, dishonored, exploited when he tries to build a world all for himself sorely tried, even in the depths of his own misery, by the desire to return to communion with his Father. Like the father in the parable, God looks out for the return of his child, embraces him when he arrives and orders the banquet of the new meeting with which the reconciliation is celebrated.

The most striking element of the parable is the father's festive and loving welcome of the returning son: It is a sign of the mercy of God, who is always willing to forgive. Let us say at once: Reconciliation is principally a gift of the heavenly Father (5).

God loves us like the father in the parable loves his son. We turn away from Him daily, abusing the good gifts He has given us. And He welcomes us back daily, giving us the gift of reconciliation with His merciful heart.

We celebrate this gift through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, “a great gift of healing that brings about closer union with the Lord” and with the Church (YOUCAT 235). Our Baptism reconciles us with God, but we need Confession because Baptism “does not free us from human weakness and the inclination to sin. That is why we need a place where we can be reconciled with God again and again” (YOUCAT 226).

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on Us

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Blessed John Paul II was particularly fascinated by the Mystery of the Divine Heart—the gentle and lowly heart of Jesus which poured forth blood and water as a fountain of mercy for us.

One way to meditate upon the “riches of the Heart of Christ,” is by praying the beautiful litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pray it here today. And perhaps make this prayer a part of your daily devotion, especially during the month of June, which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

                                                 Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, Love and Mercy Personified

This coming weekend the Church celebrates “Divine Mercy Sunday.” On this special day, we will contemplate God's mysterious love in sending His only Son to die for us. We will contemplate the redemptive power of Jesus’ words and actions as He dwelt among us on Earth. And we will contemplate the message Jesus left with his faithful servant, St. Faustina Kowalska: “My daughter say that I am love and mercy personified” (Diary, p. 374).

Jesus called for the Divine Mercy devotion and feast through St. Faustina. During her canonization Mass in 2000, Blessed John Paul II announced that “Divine Mercy Sunday” will be celebrated throughout the Church each year on the Second Sunday of Easter. In its readings, “the liturgy seems to indicate the path of mercy which, while re-establishing the relationship of each person with God, also creates new relations of fraternal solidarity among human beings,” the Holy Father said.

Blessed John Paul II had a beautifully powerful devotion to St. Faustina and to the Divine Mercy that Jesus chose to reveal through her. It may have been providential, then, that he passed away during the vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter. The last gift the Holy Father left was the Regina Caeli message for Divine Mercy Sunday:

As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy!

Blessed John Paul II was beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday, only just a year ago.