“Trusting in the Mercy of God – our greatest refuge and hope!”
(Based on the Feast of the Divine Mercy)
A little boy came back home very happy after his catechism classes.
The mother, seeing the boy, unusually overjoyed, asked him, “Why are you so happy today?”
The boy replied: “Mamma, am so happy today because God shares in my weakness!”
“What weakness,” asked the curious mother.
“God is also poor at Maths, Mamma… just like me” said the boy, “the teacher taught us the story
of God who leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness, and goes after one sheep that was lost!
So poor is God at Maths!”
And to that, the Mother, with a big smile replied: “Oh yeah! Thank the Lord for His Weakness
in Math!
It’s this Weakness that is our greatest refuge and hope – we call it His Mercy!”
Yes, the Weakness of the Lord in Maths can be called as His Mercy!
And it’s His Mercy that is our greatest refuge and hope!
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Divine Mercy of Jesus – commemorating His deep love for us in His Passion, Death and Resurrection…
… and celebrating His immense compassion and longing for each and every soul.
The Gospel of the Day is another Resurrection account of the Risen Lord to His Apostles.
Thomas was not with the group on the previous occasion that the Lord appeared to His chosen ones.
And so when the Lord makes His appearance, He specially calls out on Thomas, to experience and believe in His Risen Body:
“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believe” (Jn 20:27)
Jesus came to the world to “save and seek the lost” (Lk 19:10)
Thomas, the Apostle was lost…
… was lost in doubts over the reports and talks about the Resurrection of the Lord
… was lost within himself on whether he could trust the words of his companions, who often had wavered, even in the past, over many matters
… was lost in missing out a chance to encounter His Master, since he had stayed away from the community.
But the Good Shepherd now comes in search of this “lost” sheep..
And this sheep, submits to the mercy and compassion of the Shepherd…
“My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28) were the confessing words of Thomas to Jesus, His Master.
The Lord displays His wonderful mercy to Thomas, the “lost” sheep, who was willing to be found.
The Lord manifests His compassionate mercy, to Thomas, His “chosen” one, who was ready to humble himself before the Lord.
The Lord displays His Willingness…
… to avoid the “maths of keeping count of failures” and being unforgiving!
… to keep aside the common style of “calculating one’s weaknesses” and being judgmental!
This then is the great lesson that we can learn ….
The Lord is willing to be found, by those who seek Him
The Lord is waiting to be experienced, by those who want Him
The Lord is wanting to be encountered, by those who long for Him
The Mercy Sunday is a wonderful invitation to plunge ourselves in the ocean of the Lord’s mercy and compassion.
Thomas sought to touch the Lord… but the Lord Himself touched his heart!
We seek the Lord…
… but the Lord seeks much more to come into our lives.We long for the Lord…
… but the Lord longs much more strongly for our souls.We search for the Lord…
… but the Lord searches much more to embrace us in love.
This Feast of the Mercy Sunday also is a beautiful reminder and invitation to experience the love and mercy of the Lord, in the two treasures that Holy Mother the Church constantly offers – the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Image of the Divine Mercy also points to these two Sacraments…
The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous – The Sacrament of Reconciliation
The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls – The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
In the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist… the mercy of Lord waits on us…
… to receive Him more frequently
… to live Him more in our lives
… to honour Him more often
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the mercy of the Lord longs for us…
… to accept His offer of life and blessings
… to receive us back, with all our sins washed away
… to go back to His embrace of sanctity by living a holy life
The priests of the Lord are reminded, on this day, of this powerful duty and task that they need to faithfully ensure… towards the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
These are the two powerful channels through which the mercy of the Lord flows and the priests alone are chosen and entrusted to handle these Sacraments of grace and mercy!
It’s indeed the greatest privilege…and the same time, the most sacred duty and function for a Priest.
Therefore…
The priests have a bounden responsibility, to be always ready for these sacraments…
The priests have a bounden task, to be always willing to administer these sacraments…
The priests have a bounden duty, to be always open to allow God’s mercy to flow through them
Let this Feast of the Mercy Sunday…
… be a day to re-consecrate ourselves to the Mercy of the Lord.
… be a day to re-commit ourselves to showing mercy and compassion to all the people in our lives.
The Mercy of God is indeed the story of His Willingness to let aside all mathematical calculations…
… in extending His Love to all of us!
Yes, the Weakness of the Lord in Maths can be called as His Mercy!
And it’s His Mercy that is our greatest refuge and hope!
With love in our hearts, let us cry out, “My Lord and my God” and with hope in the mercies of God, let us sing, “Jesus, I trust in You!”
Let us seek to live as Missionaries of Mercy!
May our Blessed Mamma, the Compassionate Mother of Mercy, always intercede for us!
Happy Feast of the Mercy of God!
God Bless! Live Jesus!
Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism:
THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE TEACHING OF THE FAITH
From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church’s living faith, principally by means of Baptism.
It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
During the first centuries the Church sought to clarify her Trinitarian faith…
… both to deepen her own understanding of the faith
… and to defend it against the errors that were deforming it.
This clarification was the work of the early councils, aided by the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian people’s sense of the faith.
In order to articulate the dogma of the Trinity, the Church had to develop her own terminology with the help of certain notions of philosophical origin: “substance”, “person” or “hypostasis”, “relation” and so on.
In doing this, she did not submit the faith to human wisdom, but gave a new and unprecedented meaning to these terms…
… which from then on would be used to signify an ineffable mystery, “infinitely beyond all that we can humanly understand” (Cf. CCC #249-251)
Reflection Capsules 