The ABCs of Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy Sunday is the Second Sunday of Easter. It is a relatively new feast and has only been celebrated since the year 2000. The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins. Thus we can call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. It is a message we can practice by remembering A B C:

Ask for His Mercy - God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly. He wants us to repent of our sins. He wants to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. Through the Passion and Death of Jesus, an infinite source of mercy is available to us. Yet, God who created us free will not force anything on us, not even His mercy. He must wait for us to turn from our sinfulness and ask: “Ask and it will be given to you … for everyone who asks receives.” (Matthew. 7:7-8)

Be Merciful to Others - God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others as He does to us. Mercy is love that seeks to relieve the misery of others. It is an active love, poured out upon others to heal, comfort, console, forgive, and to remove pain. It is the love that God offers us, and it is the love He demands from us for each other: “I give you a new commandment. … As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

Completely Trust in Jesus - God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive. But there is more to trust than believing that God is trustworthy. We must act upon that belief. Trust involves a turning back to God. It involves a real conversion of our whole lives to God. We must repent of our sins and forgive others.

Trust is a living faith. Trust means that we agree to let God be God, instead of trying to be God ourselves. It means that we agree that God can write the script of our lives, instead of insisting on our own script. It means that we agree with the great pledge we make in the Our Father: “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” It means that even in our moments of agony we agree with the cry of Jesus in the Garden, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

God is Mercy itself, and we are called to practice the ABCs of mercy. As we do, our trust in Jesus is the vital ingredient. We don’t ask for mercy, nor do we try to be good to other people. We ask with complete trust. Our Lord fills us with grace so that we can be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful.

Blessings and peace to you as we journey together in “Encountering Christ in Word, Liturgy, Charity, and Community.” A Saint Monica Sojourner

Resource: The Basics of Divine Mercy | The Divine Mercy. To learn more about the Divine Mercy history and devotion go to History of the Message and Devotion to Divine Mercy | The Divine Mercy.

There are two books about Divine Mercy that are FREE and can be found on the bookshelves at the entrance to The Church of St. Monica. They are: Revelations of Divine Mercy (Fr. George Kosecki); Mercy Minutes (Fr George Kosecki); The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion.