Second Sunday of Easter, cycle b

JOHN 20:19-31
TODAY IS DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY. SISTER FAUSTINA, NOW SAINT FAUSTINA, WROTE IN HER DIARY IN THE EARLY PART OF THE 20TH CENTURY THAT JESUS HAD REVEALED TO HER THESE WORDS: “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. THE SOUL THAT WILL GO TO CONFESSION AND RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION SHALL OBTAIN COMPLETE FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND PUNISHMENT. ON THAT DAY ALL THE DIVINE FLOODGATES THROUGH WHICH GRACE FLOW ARE OPENED. LET NO SOUL FEAR TO DRAW NEAR TO ME, EVEN THOUGH ITS SINS BE AS SCARLET. MY MERCY IS SO GREAT THAT NO MIND, BE IT OF MAN OR OF ANGEL, WILL BE ABLE TO FATHOM IT THROUGHOUT ALL ETERNITY.”
THE HISTORY OF THIS FEAST DAY IS ALMOST MIRACULOUS. SISTER FAUSTINA, AN UNEDUCATED POLISH WOMAN, TRIED SEVERAL TIMES TO ENTER A CONVENT BEFORE SHE WAS FINALLY ACCEPTED. SHE RECEIVED LOCUTIONS FROM JESUS WHICH SHE RECORDED IN HER DIARY. NOW A LOCUTION MEANS THAT A PERSON HAS THE SENSE THAT HE OR SHE IS BEING SPOKEN TO BY JESUS OR MARY, OR PERHAPS A SAINT OR AN ANGEL. IT NEED NOT MEAN “A VOICE IN THE HEAD” NOR IS IT NECESSARILY A DICTATED STATEMENT. AND THE REAL QUESTION, OF COURSE, IS WHETHER IT IS AUTHENTIC, OR PERHAPS A SIGN OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLNESS, OR JUST PLAIN LYING. WORKING WITH HER SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR, AND IN RESPONSE TO THESE LOCUTIONS, SHE HAD THE PICTURE OF DIVINE MERCY PAINTED, AND INTRODUCED THE CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY. AFTER HER DEATH IN 1934, HER SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR SPREAD THE DEVOTION AND ENCOURAGED THE READING OF HER DIARY. IN 1966, HER DIARY WAS TRANSLATED INTO ITALIAN AND SUBMITTED TO ROME, WHERE IT WAS PROMPTLY PUT ON THE INDEX OF FORBIDDEN BOOKS, AND ONLY IN 1978, DID THE CHURCH FINALLY DECIDE THAT THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE DIARY WHICH WAS AGAINST THE CHURCH'S DOCTRINE.
THE SECOND PART OF THIS STORY HAS TO DO WITH THE MARIANS OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, WHO CHAMPION THE DEVOTION TO THE DIVINE MERCY WHICH FAUSTINA HAD DESCRIBED. THE MARIANS WERE FOUNDED IN THE 17TH CENTURY. EVENTUALLY POLAND CAME UNDER CZARIST RULE, AND THERE WAS A PERSECUTION AGAINST ROMAN CATHOLICS. THE ORDER WAS SUPPRESSED FOR 20 YEARS, AND THEN WAS ALLOWED TO RECONSTITUTE ITSELF. BUT OVER THE NEXT 200 YEARS, THEY CONTINUED TO BE PERSECUTED, AND THERE CAME A TIME WHEN THERE WAS EXACTLY ONE MEMBER OF THE MARIAN ORDER STILL ALIVE. FATHER SEKOWSKI AND A PRIEST FROM LITHUANIA, FR. MATULAITIS, REFOUNDED THE ORDER IN SECRET, AND IT GREW. IN 1942, ONE OF THE MEMBERS, A PRIEST NAMED JOSEPH JARZEBOWSKI, MET TWO POLISH PRIESTS WHO HAD BEEN STUDENTS OF SISTER FAUSTINA'S SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR. HE LEARNED OF THE DIVINE MERCY DEVOTION FROM THEM. HIS JOURNEY ACROSS RUSSIA AND JAPAN TO THE UNITED STATES SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT PLOT FOR A MOVIE. HE AND HIS FELLOW MARIANS RESOLVED TO SPREAD THE DEVOTION BUT STOPPED DURING THE TIME SISTER FAUSTINA'S DIARY WAS FORBIDDEN. THEY WORKED TO HAVE HER WORK RE-EXAMINED, AND EVENTUALLY THEY BECAME THE MAIN PROMOTERS OF THE DIVINE MERCY DEVOTION. OF COURSE WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE SHRINE AT STOCKBRIDGE.
THE THIRD PART OF THE STORY HAS TO DO WITH JOHN PAUL II, WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN HAVING SISTER FAUSTINA'S WRITINGS RE-EXAMINED (IN THE ORIGINAL POLISH) WHEN HE WAS A CARDINAL. THIS RESULTED IN LIFTING THE BAN ON HER WRITINGS, AND IN 2000, AS POPE HE DECLARED FAUSTINA A SAINT AND DESIGNATED THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE EASTER SEASON AS DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY.
FINALLY, HE SPENT HIS FIRST DAY IN HEAVEN ON DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY – HE PASSED AWAY THE EVENING BEFORE THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER IN 2005.
I PUT THIS ALL BEFORE YOU TO SHOW YOU HOW IMPROBABLE THIS ALL SEEMS TO BE, HOW MANY SETBACKS AND COINCIDENCES, IF YOU WANT TO CALL THEM THAT, ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PARTICULAR FEAST; AND I HOPE YOU TOO WILL SEE THE HAND OF GOD IN THIS.
THE GOSPEL TODAY IS ABOUT MERCY; THE FIRST THING JESUS DID WHEN HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD WAS GO TO HIS DISCIPLES AND GIVE THEM THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS. NOW MOST OF US HAVEN'T GOT MUCH OF A SENSE OF SIN. IF I WERE TO ASK YOU IF YOU EXPECT TO GO TO HEAVEN, I BET EVERYONE WOULD PUT THEIR HANDS UP IN THE AIR. I HOPE THAT WILL BE THE CASE. BUT OUR ANCESTORS IN THE FAITH, INCLUDING THE GREATEST SAINTS, WERE MUCH MORE AWARE OF HOW FRAGILE OUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH REALLY IS. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THE CLOSER THEY GOT TO GOD, THE MORE AWARE OF THEIR SINFULNESS THEY WERE. AND WHAT A WONDERFUL, MERCIFUL GIFT JESUS GAVE HIS PEOPLE; WHOSE SINS YOU SHALL FORGIVE, HE TOLD HIS FIRST PRIESTS, THEY WILL BE FORGIVEN.
THE SECOND GREAT ACT OF MERCY IS ALSO DESCRIBED IN THIS GOSPEL. THERE WAS THOMAS, THE MAN WHOSE HEART WAS BROKEN, WHO WOULD NOT PUT HIS TRUST IN JESUS AGAIN, NOT WITHOUT SOLID PROOF. AND IN THIS ATTITUDE OF REJECTION, OF WALLING HIMSELF OFF, OF CYNICISM AND DISBELIEF, JESUS COMES TO HIM. A LOCKED DOOR CANNOT KEEP JESUS AWAY FROM THOSE HE LOVES; NOR CAN A BITTER AND BROKEN HEART; JESUS COMES, JESUS IS THERE, AND HE SHOWS US THROUGH THOMAS THAT HE GIVES EACH OF US EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO ENTER INTO HIS FRIENDSHIP. AND HE WOULD HAVE DONE THIS FOR JUDAS AS WELL, BUT JUDAS DID WHAT WE ALL CAN DO – HE TURNED DOWN THE MERCY JESUS OFFERED, AND AS JESUS SAID OF HIM, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER HAD HE NEVER BEEN BORN.
MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, YOU ARE A SINNER. MAKE NO MISTAKE, YOU DON'T DESERVE HEAVEN. IN FACT, I HATE TO SAY IT, BUT ITS TRUE, THE BLESSED MOTHER DID NOT DESERVE HEAVEN. I HAVE A FRIEND. SHE ISN'T WELL, AND SHE HAS VERY LITTLE IN THIS WORLD. WHEN YOU SAY HOW ARE YOU? SHE REPLIES, “BETTER THAN I DESERVE TO BE.” SHE GETS IT.
BUT JESUS, IN HIS GREAT MERCY, LEFT US WITH THE FREE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND SHOWED US THAT HIS MERCY IS THERE FOR US, NO MATTER HOW FAR AWAY FROM HIM WE MAY FEEL.
PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SPECIAL GRACES THAT ARE AVAILABLE TODAY. IF YOU GO TO CONFESSION WITHIN 20 DAYS OF THIS DAY, AND RECEIVE COMMUNION TODAY, AND SAY THE OUR FATHER AND THE CREED IN FRONT OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, ALONG WITH A PRAYER SUCH AS “MERCIFUL JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU,” OUR CHURCH PROMISES THAT THE SPIRITUAL CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS WILL BE ELIMINATED. BECAUSE JESUS POURS OUT AN OCEAN OF GRACES TO US TODAY, IF WE WISH TO HAVE THEM.