After remaining shut for 70 days—throughout the days of Lent, Holy Week and Easter—our churches are being reopened for liturgical celebrations. However, with the initial joy and energy of the Resurrection passing, we are back to the challenging realities of the pandemic, rising costs of living and the repercussions of the war in Ukraine. Perhaps the experience of the disciples after Easter Sunday was not any different: fear, confusion and doubt. Not everyone believed that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.
But we are called to be “Easter people”—people of joy and hope—and on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church reassures her children of the consoling bosom of God. During the canonisation Mass of St. Faustina Kowalska in 2000, Pope St. John Paul II instituted this special devotion to celebrate the mercy of God.
He said in his homily on the occasion of the canonisation: “What will the years ahead bring us? What will man’s future on earth be like? We are not given to know. Unfortunately, new signs of progress will also be followed by painful experiences. It will, however, be the light of divine mercy that illuminates the way for the men and women of the third millennium.”
Twenty-two years later, the world has certainly no lack of “painful experiences.” The world is beset with wars, conflicts and natural calamities, and we need God’s mercy more than ever.
During the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, several people were hiding in the office of Caritas Ukraine, the charitable arm of the Holy See in the country. A Russian tank fired on the building, killing seven people. Ukraine officials estimate so far that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed during the Russian siege, but the final toll could double.
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, more than 10 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine.
Pope Francis, in an Italian television interview aired on Good Friday, spoke of the sorry state we find ourselves in. “The world is at war! Syria, Yemen … Then, think of the Rohingya, expelled, without a homeland. There is war everywhere. The genocide of Rwanda 25 years ago… Because the world chose, it’s hard to say, but it chose Cain’s way. War is putting into effect ‘Cainism’, that is, killing one’s brother.”
Divine Mercy Sunday calls on the world to abandon the Cainist theory of survival of the strongest. The Church and the people of God have a sacred mission to become channels of God’s mercy. God does not take sides in politics or war, nor do we take sides with our opinions. He wants us to become the ‘good Samaritans,’ to touch the wounded flesh and listen to their stories with an open heart.
As Pope Francis said in his third encyclical Fratelli Tutti, “Let us ask [God] to anoint our whole being with the balm of his mercy, which heals the injuries caused by mistakes, misunderstandings and disputes. Moreover, in humility and meekness, let us ask him for the grace to send us forth along the demanding but enriching path of seeking peace.” — jose, CMF
