Divine Mercy Sunday

This past Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday.  This Feast was first alluded too in the revelations Jesus gave to the wonderful Polish Saint, Faustina Kowalska in the early 1900’s.  Amazingly, she was barely literate, died at age 33 (same age as Jesus), and yet wrote a 700+ page testament about what Jesus revealed to her. 

Pope John Paul II would later establish the 1^st Sunday after Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday” calling on the faithful to pray and intercede for the world, that the mercy of God may be unleashed and experienced by all.  There will be the opportunity for prayer, adoration, confession and presentations beginning at 1PM today and leading to a formal program at 3:00PM.    

Let me offer a quote from St. Faustina herself as Jesus spoke to her:  “My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy.  I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a 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.” 

It’s been said that the church is “not a sanctuary for saints, but a refuge for sinners.”   Our Churches are filled with individuals (sinners—which is all of us) who have recognized our own failings and then encountered the inexhaustible mercy of God.  These souls are well on their way to becoming saints, and often are the best at bringing others to that same “fount of mercy.” 

 St. Faustina’s Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed every Friday at 3:00PM in the Chapel for the mercy of God to reign upon us and the world we live in.   We pray that all may know the mercy, healing and love of God.

“For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”

“Feed my Sheep”

The April 14^th, 2013 Gospel includes the account of Jesus asking Peter how much he loves him and then calling him to “feed my sheep.”   Our shepherds: priests, bishops, and pope, continue to be called to love Jesus above all else and then in turn to feed the sheep entrusted to their care.  Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York recently amazed some journalists just prior to the Papal Conclave.  They asked him what all the cardinals were talking about, expecting to hear stories of politics and intrigue.  Cardinal Dolan amazed the media when he said the most common topic was the Lord Jesus!   The cardinals were simply sharing what they are called to do, love the Lord above all else.

            I have enjoyed reading about the original shepherd of Northern Michigan, Bishop Baraga in “These Very Stones Cry Out:  Stories on the History of the Diocese of Gaylord.”  His life was not easy, but the Lord had called him to feed the sheep of Northern Michigan, and so he embraced it.  From a letter to his sister, Bishop Baraga wrote:

“Our church, schoolhouse and my house are of wood, roofed with tree bark….When it rains I must spread out my cloak over my table on which I have my books and papers, in order to protect them from inundation.  Over my bed I spread my umbrella, and I save myself, as well as I can, in a corner of my small room where it drips the least; nevertheless I am happier in my little room than all the European emperors and kings in their glittering gold palaces.”

He goes on to note:  “…I have already mentioned to you in my last letter how severe winter is in this desolate land, overgrown with immense forests…Some days in January and February were so cold that I almost could not finish holy Mass that was begun.  I brought the cruets, in which I have the wine and water for holy Mass, warm from the stove to the church, and before I came to the offertory everything was frozen so that I had to break up the ice in order to pour the wine and the water into the chalice.  Scarcely had I poured the wine in the chalice when it froze instantly, and when I came to the consecration I had to breathe into the chalice for a long time in order to melt the ice in it a little; even longer I breathed into the chalice before holy communion in order to be able to consume the sacred blood.”   Later on he writes, about snowshoeing from settlement to settlement and sleeping under the winter stars even into his 60’s! 

            What would motivate an individual to do this?  Jesus asked him “do you love me.”   And Bishop Baraga and countless other shepherds said “yes” and then went out and tended the sheep given them by Our Lord, wherever they were.  May God continue to bless and sustain our shepherds!

God bless you!

            Phil Lawson, MTS

            Pastoral Associate