Mercy Mercy

Who would you most like to see burning in hell?

Maybe someone who caused you great harm—willfully, maliciously and without remorse.

Maybe the greedy, corrupt predators who take advantage of the weak and the poor.

How about Adolph Hitler or Pol Pot or Idi Amin, or other mass exterminators?

Or sadists who enjoy torturing their victims?

How about the guy who skips Mass one Sunday to go to the football game?

Just this week the Post had a few articles about an ex-Marine who murdered a female Marine.

While he was in jail awaiting trial he bragged to a fellow inmate.

He said he'd gotten away with murder before, a few years earlier.

Two little girls cutting through some woods happened to see him in there taking drugs.

He didn't want any witnesses, so he eliminated them—in a most brutal and sadistic way.

He told his cellmate he wasn't at all sorry or bothered by what he had done.

He laughed that the police had already arrested the wrong guy—the father of one of the girls.

Surely he's a good candidate for hell.

And around the world, every day, there are many stories just as repulsive as his.

Many other good candidates committing equally evil and depraved acts.

And then there's the rest of us.

With a little greed, a little lust, envy, anger, pride, gluttony and sloth.

A little indifference.

Or more, or less.

Maybe offsetting our bad acts with good acts—serving God, serving the poor.

Sometimes better, sometimes worse.

Maybe very contrite for our failings, maybe not.

Maybe mightily striving to be better, maybe not so much.

Well adjusted, well balanced—or not.

Where's the line?

Who deserves to go to hell?

No doubt, a lot of people.

Who actually will go to hell?

We don't know.

If justice were the sole determining factor, hell would surely be a very crowded place.

Without divine mercy, we could very well all go to hell.

But—thank God—God tempers his justice with mercy.

Today's responsorial psalm assures us, His mercy endures forever.

And Jesus, by his mission and by his words, assures us that God is our loving, merciful Father.

And so, today, we celebrate God's Divine Mercy.

God's sending his only son to be one of us.

To save us and open the gates of heaven by his life, suffering, death and resurrection.

This Sunday has always been a continuation of the Easter celebration.

But the Church didn't designate it as worldwide Divine Mercy Sunday until 2000

Pope John Paul II gave it that name at the same time he canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska.

Faustina was a mystic who around 1930 saw apparitions of Jesus.

And he told her to work to build up worldwide recognition and praise for God's Divine Mercy.

We can't know for certain if a particular person has gone to heaven or hell.

But the Church declares its opinion about some special individuals.

Those canonized saints, like Fuastina.

The Church can scrutinize the life of an individual and, with the help of signs from God,

Declare that it believes that God has taken that person into heaven.

Declare that we can consider that person to be a model to follow in our own lives.

And an intercessor who can petition God for us, and help us along our way.

We can take comfort in the messages of the Gospels that tell us many are saved.

Jesus told us his Father's house has many rooms.

And, as we heard in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles,

Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This morning, the Church formally added to the number two new recognized saints.

Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II; Saints from our own era.

Many of us remember John XXIII.

My grade school class was touched by the death of the only pope we'd ever known, Pius XII.

And we all watched for the white smoke as John XXIII was chosen as his successor.

All but the youngest among us remember John Paul II.

Neither these popes nor the other canonized saints led lives of absolute perfection.

Look at St Peter's denials and St Paul's persecution of the Christians.

Look at the weak faith of St Thomas in today's Gospel.

But the Church has formally recognized that, despite their imperfections,

God has taken all these individuals into heaven.

Who does God want to see burn in hell?

No one.

But God is all-just, and justice demands consequences for the evil that we do.

Yet, God is also all-merciful.

He has already shown his Divine Mercy by sending his son to save us.

How much more mercy will he have for us when we face him at our final judgment?

Where will he draw the line?

At that judgment we'll look back over the mistakes and failures of our lives.

We'll see more clearly then that we don't really want justice.

We want mercy.

If we do make it to heaven, how will it be heaven if our loved ones aren't there too?

If we look across the chasm and see our child, or a friend, or even an enemy, in eternal torment?

There's a great deal of mystery to Heaven and to God's mercy.

But Jesus has taught us how to ensure that we'll receive all the mercy we need.

Love God and neighbor.

Forgive those who trespass against us.

He tells us, The measure with which you measure out will be given back to you.

So what can we do about this great uncertainty regarding the most important goal of our life?
How can we enjoy that peace that Jesus wished us three times in today's Gospel?

We can follow those instructions Jesus gave us.

We can even hope that God's mercy trumps God's justice in all cases.

We can trust that somehow our merciful, loving Father will take care of all his children.

Second Sunday of Easter -- Divine Mercy Sunday

     Read this Scripture @usccb.org