Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia!
In the midst of our Easter joy, we are saddened by the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis. After a long journey marked by health challenges and remarkable resilience, the Lord has called this servant of the Church to claim his reward. If we are to remember one thing about Pope Francis, I would think it should be his unwavering devotion to the mercy of God. Mercy was the guiding theme throughout his pontificate. As his motto, Pope Francis chose Miserando atque eligendo (“by having mercy and by choosing”). Thus, it is fitting, in God’s divine providence, that, as we pray for his soul, we gather this weekend for the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.
This Feast, instituted universally for the Church by St. John Paul II, is somewhat unique in that it has no dedicated prayers, readings, or parts of Mass. The Collect, or Opening Prayer, begins “God of everlasting mercy…”. How fitting! While we bask in the glory of Jesus rising from the dead following the pain of His betrayal, His torture and crucifixion, we also call upon God as one of everlasting mercy. Today, we pray for an increase of grace so that “all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, and by whose Blood they have been redeemed.” The answer to all of these, of course, is Jesus. We are baptized in Him and in His death and resurrection. We are reborn by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus. We are redeemed, not by our own will or actions, but only by the Blood of Jesus, crucified on the cross and risen from the tomb.
It is only by the mercy of God upon us that we are not left to rot in our sins. Because of the mercy of God poured out to us by Jesus’ sacrificial love, we are not left to live in slavery to sin and are not subjected only to eternal death. It is by that eternal mercy of God in Jesus that we have hope in this life. But, as Pope Francis so often reminded us, because we have received God’s mercy ourselves, we must now be instruments of the same mercy for others. As God the Father, has treated us with mercy, so must we treat one another.
Many of the problems we face today in our individual lives, in the church, and in the world, begin when we fail to act with mercy. Much is being said about Pope Francis’ attitude towards many things; the poor, the marginalized, the climate, the migrant, etc. Some say he went too far and others assert he failed to go far enough. Political terms of “liberal”, “progressive”, “conservative”, and “traditional” are often employed. These are not helpful or accurate in the description of the Holy Father, who strove to be an example of God’s mercy. In addition, the Gospel is none of these. What the Gospel is and what is at the heart of the Good News of Jesus is mercy.