To humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to hope. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace.
How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy! It gives hope.
Living in a cruel world in which people freely condemn and curse others, we need peace.
Peace comes from the word Shalom. Shalom does not merely mean to be free of war or tension, but it harmonizes a person with God’s will: Thy will be done!
Shalom is harmony with God knowing that what you are doing and facing is God’s will — sometimes God’s cross — for you.
Shalom strengthens us to carry this cross knowing our strength comes from the Lord, not ourselves!
Those who try to carry their cross on their own will struggle, fight, and fail because they rely on worldly resolutions, personal efforts, and sometimes evil solutions.
Those who face their crosses in life trust in Divine Mercy. Divine Mercy is God’s love displayed. Mercy actively heals us! The mercy revealed last week with His death and resurrection, invites us to receive mercy through confession.
Confession, the sacrament that reconciles us with the Father, restores our dignity as it gives us courage to confess any and all sins. Sadly, our pride gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus and we fail to trust our shame to his mercy. We cannot fathom a God who forgives as well as heals, especially when we feel so unworthy. Yet, Jesus states:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” –John 15:4-5
Jesus desires to purify us! He desires to remove the darkness of sin from our lives! He desires that we bear fruit as He does, rising from the dead. To bear fruit He explains:
“Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes,
that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2)
This is what confession does. His Divine Mercy so unfathomable prunes us of sin, then restores our dignity revealing to us our infinite value as seen through the eyes of our Father. Do you believe this?
To confirm this over and over the Psalm reminds us: “His mercy endures forever.” Ps 118