The mercy of the Risen Lord

The Easter Sequence, Victima Paschali, the hymn sung before the proclamation of the Gospel on Easter Sunday, concludes, “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, Victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia!” This ancient anthem clearly identifies mercy with the Risen Lord Jesus. The Octave of Easter, the eight day celebration of the mystery of Christ rising from the dead, comes to an end on the Second Sunday of Easter, which was instituted by Pope Saint John Paul II as the Sunday of Divine Mercy. On this Divine Mercy Sunday or during the Easter season, may you experience the mercy of the Risen Lord.

Throughout the season of Lent, we were tasked with making sacrifices, meditating on our actions and inactions, and immersing ourselves in Christ’s trials, in order to understand how He responded with forgiveness and mercy to the hostility of those who harmed Him. In the Cross of Christ, we see reflected our own crosses, our own trials and sufferings, and our own sinfulness which he was forced to bear.

From the darkness of Good Friday, we emerge on Easter Sunday into the fullness of Christ’s mission on earth, the salvation of all who believe. As Pope Francis explained, “Jesus, Love Incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised Him and made Him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death.”

Having passed through the annual remembrance of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord, we find ourselves at Divine Mercy Sunday which reminds us that no soul is too lost, damaged or isolated from God’s everlasting and universal mercy. Easter is our rebirth, our spiritual New Year. In Christ’s triumph over the cross and death, we are reminded that for us suffering and death are not the end of the story; Christ takes our pain into His and lifts us up into new life.

Since December with the opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, we have been reminded of the need to be merciful as the Father is merciful. We take up this challenge through the practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. They instruct us how to do mercy. Divine Mercy Sunday reminds us that each of us is worthy of the mercy of God, no matter how egregious our trespasses may be. After passing through this cycle of passion, death and new life, Divine Mercy Sunday proclaims that no soul is too lost, damaged or isolated to be restricted from God’s everlasting and universal Mercy.

On Divine Mercy Sunday many of our parishes will offer the Divine Mercy devotions attributed to Saint Faustina who was missioned by God to proclaim to the world Christ’s inconceivable mercy as a refuge and shelter for all souls, especially poor sinners. Saint Faustina communicates Christ’s promise to pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those who approach the fount of His Mercy. “Let no soul fear to draw near to me, even though its sins be as scarlet.” May the faithful who participate in the Divine Mercy devotions take up the same mission of mercy for themselves and for all.