This coming Sunday, April 19, we will conclude the Octave or eight days of the Easter celebration. As instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in the Great Jubilee Year of 2000, that Second Sunday of Easter is also now Divine Mercy Sunday.

 

Divine Mercy Sunday is part of the private revelations made by Jesus to a Polish sister, Faustina Kowalska, during the inter-war period of the 1930’s. Those revelations are now approved by the Church. 

 

For the modern world the understanding and perhaps even more importantly an acceptance of God’s mercy is profoundly needed. Otherwise we inevitably become individuals and societies without hope and filled with despair. 

 

It is no secret that the practice of and adherence to religious faith is declining in the western world, including in the United States. That has resulted in an accumulation of doubt or even outright denial about the very existence of God. And we need to ask, are we a happier, a better people as a result?

 

When we fail to acknowledge that we are spiritual beings, that we have an intimate and undeniable link to God who made us, we are denying an essential aspect of who we are. When that happens, of course we are going to be unhappy and on the road to ruin and failure.

 

Without God we have no real basis for any moral code except our own changing ideas. So we lose sight of another part of our lives which is the presence of sin, our violations of love for God. 

At all times each of us is engaged in a struggle between good and evil, between committing sin and living a life of holiness.

 

If we are to be honest, we must acknowledge that we do sin, and often we sin greatly. Every sin is not just an earthly misstep or offense. First and foremost sin is an offense against the infinite holiness and goodness of God Himself. 

 

In this Easter week, we should see even more clearly that it was because of our sins that Jesus died on the cross.

 

Once sin is acknowledged, a further question arises. What can I do about my past sins? Am I condemned to be marked by them forever? Without a place for God in life, there is no good answer to that question. And the result can be a lifetime of accumulating guilt, regret and desperation.

 

Even for those who believe in God, it can be difficult to accept that He is as merciful as the Psalms and the Scriptures tell us. 

 

Basing understanding of God on ourselves, it can perhaps be imagined that God might forgive lesser sins a time or two. But our repeated sins? And what about our mortal sins that we so deeply regret? The very nature of God, as He Himself has told us, is that His mercy is without limit, without end.

 

It is very significant that even in His agony on the cross, one of Christ’s last words were, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). He sought to forgive all of us, right up to the end.

 

God’s mercy will never be imposed on us. We need to change our hearts and be truly repentant for our past sins. But in that case, there is Divine Mercy, the love of God for us that so desires us that He will always forgive if we ask Him.

 

Because of that mercy, there is always hope. There is always time to repent until our last breath. 

 

 

This Easter we should take that step of changing our heart and our life. We should seek God’s pardon in prayer and in the sacrament of confession.

 

“Father forgive them.” How merciful God truly is.