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In the Heart of the Church |
No
Source of Hope Other Than Divine Mercy
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz
Towards a World-Transforming Hope in Divine Mercy
The Holy Spirit
introduces us to the essence of Divine Mercy. He is the Comforting
Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who, already for 2,000 years has led
the Church through the stormy ocean of time with its problems and
challenges, and who indicates to us Divine Mercy and its meaning. In
the modern day, when man has lost the sense of sin, the Holy Spirit
convinces the world of sin (cf. John 16:8), and at the same time
reveals the meaning of salvation in Jesus Christ, salvation
accomplished through the mystery of the cross and resurrection. The
Holy Spirit through the mystery of the cross of the Lord allows us
to know sin in the full measure of the evil which it carries within
itself. What more eloquently witnesses to this fact than that man
was redeemed at the price of the passion and death of the Son of
God. Precisely in the mystery of the cross does the Holy Spirit call
us to uncover the merciful and forgiving love of God ("Dominum et
Vivificantem," No. 32). This "convincing," worked by the Holy
Spirit, with respect to our sinfulness and the evil brought by sin,
is at the same time a "persuading" that sin can be forgiven. That
is, it turns out to be a conviction about Divine Mercy, thanks to
which man can once again attain the dignity of a son of God.
In his first encyclical letter, "Deus Caritas Est," Pope Benedict
XVI teaches that the death of Christ on the cross is a work of God
directed in a certain sense against himself, insofar as God is
offering himself as the Victim which will save man. This is nothing
other than love in its most radical form. The pierced side of Christ
allows us to contemplate the truth that "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
Likewise, it indicates wherein true love lies. In the very pierced
side of Jesus, Christians can find the way to live and to love (cf.
"Deus Caritas Est," No. 12). Thus, the essence of Divine Mercy is
the infinite love of the Heart of Jesus for man, love which extends
to the shedding of blood. Christ himself speaks beautifully of this:
"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends" (John 15:13). Speaking of Divine Mercy and its essence
brings us before the mystery of -- on one hand -- the always
faithful God and -- on the other -- unfaithful man. In this mystery
the characteristics of the ever Merciful God stand out in a striking
manner. Like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, he
receives his son with open arms and rejoices that he, who was lost,
has returned, that he, who was spiritually dead, has, thanks to the
grace of Divine Mercy, returned to life (cf. Luke 15:11-32). This
parable expresses the reality of conversion in the deepest fashion.
This is the most concrete expression of the presence of Divine Mercy
in the world: love overcoming sin. John Paul II in his encyclical
"Dives in Misericordia" emphasizes that mercy does not consist in
even the most sympathetic attitude toward moral, physical and
material evil. Rather, it consists in the recognition and eliciting
of good out of every sort of accumulation of evil, which can exist
in man and the world. In this very sense of mercy can the
fundamental content of the messianic sending of Jesus Christ and the
power of his mission be seen (cf. "Dives in Misericordia," No. 6).
In his sermon before the beginning of the conclave on April 18,
2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said that the mercy of Christ does
not imply the banalization of evil. Christ carried in his body and
soul all of the weight and power of evil. He destroyed and
transformed evil by suffering, through the fire of suffering love.
In this way, in the paschal mystery, in Christ's dying and rising
from the dead, the Day of Vengeance and the year of the Lord's favor
meet (cf. Isaiah 61:2).
Since Divine Mercy,
an attribute of God, issues forth from the infinite love of God for
man, it must be said to have no limit. The only force capable of
limiting it is man himself, by a lack of good will and readiness to
convert. Not in vain does Pope Benedict XVI, in the encyclical "Deus
Caritas Est," cite the words of the Apostle John: "God is love, and
he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him" (1 John
4:16). The Pope comments that these words express the essence of
Christian faith, that is, the Christian conception of God, and,
deduced from this, the proper conception of man and his path in
life. Thus, the principle of the Christian life is contained in the
words of the same Apostle John: "So we know and believe the love God
has for us" (1 John 4:16). In other words, knowing the love of God
and believing in it, the Christian is able to express the
fundamental option of his life. For if God has first loved us (cf. 1
John 4:10), then love is already not so much a commandment as a
response to God's gift of love to us (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No.
1). God waits for this answer from each of us, so as to reveal in
all of its fullness his mercy to us.
Necessity of God's Mercy
The Servant of God, John Paul II, reminds us that God reveals
himself to us as Love and Mercy, and the culmination of his
revelation is Jesus Christ (cf. "Dives in Misericordia," Nos. 1-2).
"In Christ and through Christ, God also becomes especially visible
in his mercy. Christ confers on the whole of the Old Testament
tradition about God's mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does he
speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables,
but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it"
("Dives in Misericordia," No. 2). Modern man, striving with the help
of unprecedented technological progress to become master of the
world, often rejects the idea of Divine Mercy (cf. "Dives in
Misericordia," No. 2). At the same time, it is a secret to no one
that our world is full of contradictions, being at one and the same
time strong and weak, capable of good and evil (cf. "Gaudium et Spes,"
Nos. 1-10). In truth, the modern world is characterized by a clash
of civilizations and is imbued with fear of the future. The main
reasons for this include: the gap between those who have and those
who have not, ecological problems, the ever-increasing incidence of
AIDS, drug addiction, alcoholism, the persistent problem of
illiteracy in various countries, social injustice, violence,
violation of human rights, euthanasia, problems of genetic
engineering, unceasing armed conflict, extremism, terrorism,
xenophobia, religious intolerance, and so on. This troubling
situation is exacerbated by the fact that the modern world is ever
more secularized; it is a world in which more and more frequently
moral relativism manifests itself, a world in which, in many places,
people live as if God did not exist, and so forth. The Servant of
God, John Paul II, tirelessly repeated warnings in this regard, and
the present Pontiff, Benedict XVI, also continually reminds us to
take heed. Thus, modern man can only confess, together with St.
Faustina, that there is no source of hope other than Divine Mercy.
The title written on the icon of Divine Mercy -- "Jesus, I hope in
you" -- is an expression of hope in the all-powerful love of God,
which is especially relevant in our day.
Precisely in our times, hope is often, as it were, lost in the face
of so many various examples of evil and challenges of modernity.
Therefore, it is always necessary to discover again and again in
Jesus, the face of God, Who is "the Father of mercies and God of all
comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3). On the face of the Merciful Jesus and
in his glance, we must find reflected the truth of our life and the
light of grace, which we first received in the sacrament of baptism
and continue to receive in the other sacraments and in service to
the Church. Everywhere, where hatred, injustice and pain reign;
where a lack of respect is seen toward the priceless gift of life
and the dignity of man; where the wave of terrorism grows and the
culture of death holds sway -- there is needed the grace of Divine
Mercy, which quiets the heart of man, creates peace, returns the
sense of human dignity, and leads to justice. Y Our response The
Servant of God, John Paul II, emphasizes that mercy must reveal
itself as the power of that love which evil cannot overcome, but
which "overcomes evil with good" (Romans 12:21) (cf. "Dives in
Misericordia," No. 6). In this way mercy is an absolutely necessary
dimension of love, its second name, one could say. We are required
to live this love of God and neighbor, for, as the Apostle Paul
teaches, "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but
rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). This
is the command of Christ and the teaching of the Church. It is also
the life program for every Christian. In this connection, Pope
Benedict XVI fittingly noted in his encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est,"
that man can be a source from which pour forth living waters (cf.
John 7:37-38). However, for this it is necessary that man first
drink from the original source, which is Jesus Christ. From the
pierced Heart of Christ flows forth the love of God himself -- Blood
and Water (cf. John 19:34) (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 7).
We are bound to respond to the infinite love of God to man and to
his mercy in a corresponding manner. In this endeavor, a special
place is held by the holy Eucharist, works of mercy, penance and
prayer. John Paul II teaches that "the Eucharist brings us ever
nearer to that love which is more powerful than death" ("Dives in
Misericordia," No. 13). Benedict XVI develops this idea, saying that
through the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus added to his
sacrificial act of love toward man the element of perpetual
presence. The Eucharist, thus, includes us in the sacrificial act of
Christ, thanks to which we not only receive the Incarnate Word by
some sort of static symbol, but we are introduced into the dynamic
of his sacrifice (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 13). As a result we
are called to the deepest possible living of the Eucharist, the
source and summit of the Christian life (cf. "Lumen Gentium," No.
11). Union with Christ in the Eucharist is at the same time union
with others. It is not possible to keep Christ only for oneself. One
can only belong to him in union with others. Thanks to the
Eucharist, the love of God and the love of neighbor become one thing
only; the Incarnate God unites us all. In the Eucharist, God comes
to us, so as to act in us and through us. The love of God and
neighbor unite us in one, which should be expressed in works of
mercy (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," Nos. 14-15). Pope Benedict XVI
underlines in this regard that works of mercy ("diaconia"), along
with the proclamation of the Word of God ("kerigma-martyria") and
the administering of sacraments ("leiturgia") belong to the very
nature of the Church (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 25). "Faith apart
from works is dead" (James 2:26) teaches the Apostle James. Faith
ought to be realized in daily life in concrete acts of mercy. "[The
Church] seeks to practice mercy toward people through people, and
she sees in this an indispensable condition for solicitude for a
better and 'more human' world, today and tomorrow" ("Dives in
Misericordia," No. 15).
The call of Christ: "Repent and believe the Good News" (Mark 1:15)
is always timely. For this reason, the sacrament of penance -- as
the paschal gift of Christ to his Church and as the brightest
demonstration of Divine Mercy -- should be practiced as often as
possible. It leads to our spiritual transfiguration and
resurrection. The world, which is following the path of secularism
and ever forgetting the meaning of mercy, must be filled with the
great "cry" (cf. "Dives in Misericordia," No. 15) of the Church, her
ardent and persistent prayer to the God of mercy. In this regard,
the liturgies of mercy and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are of
immense use.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
Copyright © 2006 SCTJM
