JESUS IS THE FACE OF GOD'S MERCY
Today called Divine Mercy Sunday, we celebrate the mercy of God on humanity. Right from the creation and fall of man, God has in various ways reached out to us to reconcile us to himself. Out of his love and mercy, he sent Moses to the Israelites, and he sent them prophets at various points in their history to lead them back to himself. In our own time, God has sent his son to redeem us from our sinful state to himself. This we celebrated last week, with the celebration of Easter as the highest point of the mercy of God.
The divine mercy Sunday we celebrate today, was a private revelation by Jesus to Sr Maria Faustina in 1931. With series of apparitions, Jesus requested that she should facilitate an awareness of his divine mercy, and that it should be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter Sunday. This request was approved by Pope John Paul II, in the year 2000, during the canonisation of St Maria Faustina. Jesus who is one with the father, has been there from the very beginning of human history, and by his death and resurrection, has proved to be the fullness of the mercy of God. After his resurrection, he forgave all who wronged him.
In the gospel reading of today, we see how he appeared to his disciples with a greeting of peace. He also gave them the greatest gift of mercy and peace; the sacrament of reconciliation. He gave his Apostles the power to continue the mercy of God on earth. We are therefore called to be agents of peace, mercy and reconciliation.
In the first reading, we hear how the early Christians lived a life of love, unity and peace. They met in the portico of Solomon and as they prayed and lived one another, others cane to join them. St John tells us in the second reading how Jesus appeared to him after resurrection and commissioned him to write down the vidions he was seeing. We are therefore called to trace our steps back be agents 9f Christ's mercy and peace today. Peace and unity is not possible without mercy and forgiveness. You cannot live well with someone you still hold grudges against. Jesus forgave us and granted us his mercy, and with priests as dispensers of the grace and mercy of God through the sacrament of penance instituted in the gospel reading of today, we will be able to live a peaceful and happy life if we make use of this sacrament and forgive ourselves and others, knowing that God himself has forgiven us and had mercy on us through his son.
*Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP*