| Message of Mercy |
| Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Rich in Mercy, captures the essence of Divine Mercy. He uses the parable of the Prodigal Son to state that the son's return to the father concerns more than just forgiveness. The father, the story tells us, stands on the porch looking down the road longing for his son to return. When he sees him he runs to meet him with great joy. At this point the son in a gesture of repentance states that he is no longer worthy to be called son and asks only to be treated as a servant. The father sees that a justice has been served in the suffering the son endured. The father welcomes him as son and wants to adorn him with all the vestige of his position for his son who was lost has been found. The pope tells us that this is the fullness of mercy. The son is restored to the father and to his home. This restoration is not just for the son but also for the father who is now himself fully restored. John Paul points out that mercy is not charity but a giving and receiving of both involved. In mercy all experience a sense of restoration.  The story of the prodigal son is our story and this 'coming home' to the Father is lived out in the Church. We are restored in and through the sacramental life of the Church and its teachings. We are no longer slave nor servant but son and daughter because Jesus is brother and Lord. The creation of the Church was a most profound act of Mercy. The Church flowed from the side of Christ on the Cross. The blood and water that issued forth were in essence the Eucharist (the lifeblood of souls) and the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation where we are washed clean in the most holy water of Christ. These realities are powerfully depicted in the rays St. Faustina saw on February 22, 1931. The image of the Divine Mercy presents both the death and resurrection of Christ; it is the Easter Triduum, the Church, where we are restored, healed and forgiven!  "In his great mercy the Father has given us new birth as his sons and daughters, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never fade away." (1Pet. 1, 3-4) http://www.mercypope.org/index.php/message-of-mercy  |
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