Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21
Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! God the Father sent Jesus on His saving mission. It was a mission of mercy. He came to free us from the captivity of our sins and death, sin’s logical consequence. Jesus’s victory over sin and death was His gift of mercy to us.
Mercy is God’s name. God revealed His name to Moses on Mt. Sinai: “And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation’” (Exodus 34:5-7).
Yes, this paragraph is God’s name! Read it again and see how His justice is paired with His love, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus came in God’s name: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39, Psalm 118:26). So, Jesus came in the name of mercy.
Jesus gave the Church the great honor and dignity to help Him continue His mission of mercy for all generations. The apostles and saints continued His mission, and now it is our turn to carry Christ’s mercy to the world: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).
This is the heart of the new evangelization: personally encountering the love and mercy of God and then being so full of His graces that you reach out in God’s love and mercy to others, inviting them to encounter the Risen Christ for themselves. We are sent forth at the end of each Mass to glorify the Lord by our lives. When we authentically and boldly proclaim God’s love and mercy to the people around us, we witness to His goodness and glorify Him.
Jesus, thank you for your gift of mercy to us. Help me to accept your love and mercy and then invite someone else to encounter You, too.
Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday
- Acts 4:32-35
- Psalm 118:2-24
- 1 John 5:1-6
- John 20:19-31