I am the type of person who does not like to disappoint. Daily seeing my imperfections and the ways that I must grow sometimes is a struggle for me. Not that I don't want to see them or be aware of them, because I do! I want to know them immediately so that I can change them, but it pains me at times to see how much growing that I have to do. When I find myself overwhelmed by my weaknesses, I can hear this line in the depths of my heart: "You must believe in mercy to the point of believing that you are a joy for Jesus!" From there, I can muster up the courage to pick myself up and keep moving. St. Therese said, "We would like to suffer generously. We would like to never fail-what an illusion" (I Believe in Love, 210). This is so true; especially for me. I can't count on my hands or toes how many times I've said that I was going to be more patient, more understanding, more gentle or loving and then turn around, no more than 5 seconds later, and find myself doing the exact opposite of what I just pledged I was going to do.
This Sunday is a beautiful Feast in our Church! This Sunday we celebrate Divine Mercy! We get to celebrate with humble confidence God's goodness! Early in my college career I had a professor who lived his life based on one simple phrase: "Mercy! THAT's where it's at!" Here was a man who understood his own weaknesses and yet, basked in God's mercy because he knew that it was his! St. Faustina, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, encourages us to have this kind of confidence in God's Mercy! "And fear nothing, dear soul, whoever you are; the greater the sinner, the greater his right to Your mercy, O Lord" (Diary 598). The beautiful events that took place last weekend during the Holy Triduum have won for us this mercy!
"At Gethsemane He appears before His Father, covered with our sins-He, who 'bore our sins on His body.' He obtains for us the right to appear one day before the Father covered with the Blood flowing from every pore of His body under the pressure of His agony and shed on Calvary to the last drop. Then the Father will not recognize us as sinners, but as His children, regenerated and renewed by the baptism of this Blood; He will take us for His beloved Son" (I Believe in Love, 6).That is Mercy! And THAT's where it's at! As we prepare to celebrate this Feast of Divine Mercy, let us remember that we must believe in mercy to the point of believing that we are a joy for Jesus and join our voices with that of St. Faustina,
"O inexhaustible spring of Divine Mercy, pour yourself out upon us! Your goodness knows no limits. Confirm, O Lord, the power of Your mercy over the abyss of my misery, for You have no limit to your mercies. Wonderful and matchless is Your mercy, astonishing the human and angelic mind" (Diary 819).
Written by Alycia
