Mercy for You and for Me
“There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy—that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the holiness of God” (Pope St. John Paul II).
Over the past 25 or 30 years, we’ve heard a lot about Divine Mercy, as originally presented to us by St. Faustina Kowalska. In the U.S., the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception have made monumental contributions to the spread of this wonderful devotion.
With its prominence in Catholic thought in recent years, however, we run the risk of becoming numb to the great gift we have in St. Faustina’s teaching and these devotions.
Almsgiving and Mercy
I find it interesting and, yet, fitting, that we are invited to celebrate the great feast of mercy at this time of the liturgical year. In a way, we have been preparing for it for about seven weeks. During the Lenten season, along with prayer and fasting, the Church encouraged us to participate in almsgiving as well. In recent years, in order to make this practice relevant to everyone, some have started shortening it simply to “give,” as in “Pray, Fast, Give.”
It may sound like a stretch, but I think that what we were making extra efforts to give during the Lenten season is mercy. Whether it be making charitable contributions to help the poor, visiting a nursing home on Sunday afternoons, or shoveling an elderly neighbor’s driveway, these Lenten alms, or ways of giving, have really been acts of mercy.
St. Faustina’s teaching shares the importance of showing mercy to others. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy, as the Church has long called them, are an important preparation to help us celebrate this week’s feast. In them, we are given the privilege of being channels of God’s mercy.
The Gift of Forgiveness
The teaching on the relationship of being merciful with receiving mercy is not new. It goes back to Jesus Himself. We’ve all heard the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35). I don’t know about you, but in my life, it has stood as a powerful statement on the importance of forgiveness.
As a young adolescent, I had to work through this teaching in regard to some of my peers, who had been teasing me and making hurtful comments to me. I can remember praying for the grace to be able to forgive, because on my own, I could not do it. I knew the Gospel message of the necessity of forgiveness, but I found it difficult to implement. Thanks be to God, I was given help to forgive my peers and move on, but I have never forgotten that message.
“Jesus, I Trust in You”
Another aspect of the Divine Mercy message, one that has been brought to the fore for me in recent years, is the importance of trust. Working in long-term care during the days of COVID precautions and preoccupation was extremely stressful. This and other challenges made surrender and trust all the more essential in my life. During that time, someone pointed me in the direction of the Surrender Novena, which I have found to be very good. I continue to echo its refrain at times: “Jesus, I surrender myself to you; take care of everything.”
It seems I am working backward in the “ABCs of Mercy,” as I have heard them called, as I am concluding with A: “Ask for mercy.” A beautiful and powerful way of asking for mercy is through the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It has been set to some beautiful musical arrangements in recent years, which I enjoy using at times.
This Sunday, we celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy, which has its own special graces available as we ask for mercy. I encourage you, this week, not to let this feast pass you by. Don’t let the frequent repetition of its message desensitize you to the treasure that it is.
Sr. Christina Marie Neumann is a Franciscan Sister in Hankinson, North Dakota. She has a background in communications, which she has drawn upon in various capacities over the years. She has fourteen years’ experience working with the elderly and disabled and now assists with various projects at her community’s provincial house and retreat center, including maintaining the retreat center's website and authoring a weekly blog on behalf of her Franciscan community.