Mercy Sunday and Trust

 
       First I want to apologize for having published only one post over the first two weeks of April. Many other things have occupied my attention and my time. I will try to do better over the remainder of the month.
       Last year around this time, thesteppingstones wrote about “Divine Mercy Sunday and Saint Faustina”. Also published was “Divine Mercy Sunday”. (Click on either publication to go directly to it.)  It is in that  last publication that the following words were quoted:

“ I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.” (Diary, 699).

       The Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday and extends to the Sunday after Easter. By clicking on Chaplet and the Novena you can go directly to these prayers. Both can and probably should be recited every day. But a strong effort should be made by us to recite and pray these special prayers from Good Friday to the Sunday after Easter.
       This time of Grace seems to be most special to Our Lord. It is He who urges us to return to the fount of His Goodness, His Love. It is He who wishes us to return to the simplicity of life and the trust of little children. You need not be a harbinger of doom to recognize that our civilization is seeking everything it possibly can that leads it away from the Christ and towards its own destruction.
       Jesus said time and time again, that we should be as little children, and to let the children come to Him. What is it that makes a child, a child? At the core of every child is it not TRUST? Jesus asks us to do nothing more than trust Him, lay our lives out before Him. Instead of wealth, or material things, or prestige, or position, let us trust Him and His goodness. If your child trusts you, will you not do everything you can to put your arms around them and protect them? It is the same with Jesus?

The Forgiveness of Sins,

 

(14^th in a series of a presentation on The Apostles Creed)

        The gift of free will enables man to rise to the heights of heaven, itself. But this same gift, when misused, will turn man away from God and focus inwardly on his own wants, desires and pleasures. We know what is to be done. We know what loving unity with God will result in when we act in accord with that unity. But we willingly choose to ignore this path. Rather, our thoughts flow out, “That path is too hard”, or “Just this time, I want to do this, experience that”. And so we move steadily away from God, as “this time”, happens again and again.
      God in his infinite goodness recognizes the weakness of man. Would an infinitely loving God, allow man to wallow in this wretched state? Christ said to His Apostles, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” ^-1 Christ’s references to the Holy Spirit are always a reference to the Spirit of God, of Truth, of Love. Receiving the Spirit, the Apostles, the known Church at that time, were given the power of forgiving or retaining sins. So, in addition to Baptism, “…He who believes and is baptized, will be saved”^-2, Jesus provides still another way that man may be freed of his sins.
      The words, “God loves us, not because we are good, but because He is good” should shake us out of our complacency, our smugness. Viewing our lives with their many false starts, with their fleeting promises to do better, we realize just how fickle and insincere we can be. And yet, in spite of our weakness, God loves us with a love incomprehensible. He saw our weakness and provided us a means to overcome even that. He says to each of us, “Just love Me in return. Love Me so thoroughly, so completely that your sole desire is to be always united with Me.” With such a love, our focus cannot be on our own petty wants.
      And so, in the Creed, we proclaim yes, we believe in God and the Resurrection and the Ascension, and all the other articles of faith. But because of the love that God has for us, because of the words of Christ that ring down through the ages, we believe in the forgiveness of sins, as well. God created us in love. He redeemed us because of love. He promises His love to be with us for the remainder of time. And all He wants is for us to love Him back.   

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-1   John 20: 22-23

-2   Mark 16:16

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