From The Pastor: 4-23-2017

The Second Sunday of Easter is the eighth day in the Octave of Easter. For the past week, the Church throughout the
world has celebrated each day of the Octave with the same joy and solemnity of Easter Sunday. Of course, today is
also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus’ mission to the world and his extension of that mission to the Church can
arguably be summed up in that one word: MERCY!

A few years ago I led a pilgrimage to Poland and visited the hometown of Saint Faustina Kowalska as well as the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow. At each place, the sisters who guided us on our tours both emphasized that while Divine Mercy is most certainly about the forgiveness of our sins, it was so much more than that. Divine Mercy encompasses the tender love of God that brings the world into existence and which keeps each and every one of us in existence. It is the grace that draws sinners back to Him as well as the tender gaze on his saints “with whom he is well pleased.”

Divine Mercy and Divine Love are two sides of the same coin. Divine Mercy is what we celebrate this Easter Season. “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to be our savior, that whoever believes Him may not perish but might have eternal life.” It takes more than eight earthly days to contemplate this mystery; it takes even more than a lifetime. It takes eternity to contemplate the depths and the riches of the Mercy of God!

Father Al