How to Become the Vessel of God's Mercy

Last week, we celebrated Easter Sunday and the moment when we rejoiced in the

fact that through Jesus' resurrection, we also received our resurrection, our new life.

And today, on the second Sunday of Easter, God gives us even greater gift,

the grace that will help us to remain in this new life, the gift of His mercy.

Today we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday.

And how this feast came to be is just an incredible story.

In 1905, so 120 years ago, in a small village in Poland called Głogowiec,

with fewer than 150 people, a girl named Helena Kowalska was born.

When she was 19, she entered a convent and consecrated her whole life to God.

She gave up all her dreams, comfort, to follow God's voice and serve him and others completely.

At age of 29, she started writing her spiritual diary,

recording her experiences and conversations with Jesus in prayer,

which later was published as the diary Divine Mercy of My Soul.

So in those conversations, Jesus gave her a very important mission to spread

the message of divine mercy to the whole world.

And that person, of course, is Saint Faustina Kowalska.

This is the name she took when making her final vows as a nun.

And she is now known worldwide.

I still remember sitting in the seminary, it was five, four years ago,

during the Divine Mercy Sunday preparing for Mass.

I opened her diary and I read entry from 1936 when she was 31 and Jesus said to her this.

I want this Feast of Mercy to be a refuge and shelter for all souls,

especially for poor sinners.

On this day, the very depths of my mercy are open.

I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach my mercy.

I desire that it be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter.

So it is today and i

was struck very deeply by that fact there i

was in florida about to celebrate the

feast jesus gave to that little young polish nun from a place so small you can

barely find it on the map and today we receive those graces we are able to receive

them because faustina listened to God.

She said, yes, she said her fiat to God.

And so her story shows us the power of God, that if someone gives their life

to him, God can turn it into a vessel of mercy that blesses the whole world.

And so just as God worked powerfully through St.

Faustina and in her life, today's gospel shows us how Jesus continues to break

through barriers to reach us, even if our hearts might not be perfectly exposed.

Because we read in the gospel that Jesus appears to his disciples in a way nobody would expect.

Jesus comes through locked doors. Comes through locked doors.

The apostles were hiding in fear, right? But Jesus didn't stay away.

We know that fear is such a tragedy in our lives. Fear locks the door to God's love, to God's mercy.

But today, Jesus recognizes any fear in our hearts, in your heart, and he comes in anyway.

That's how much he cares for you.

I remember a time in my life, as you know my story, when I was deeply afraid. My life was confused.

I didn't know what to do, what's going to happen to me.

And one day I visited the Divine Mercy Shrine in Łagewniki.

It's in Poland, outside of Krakow, where St. Faustina had lived.

There was also the original Divine Mercy image, the copy of which we have it here exposed.

And this is the image that Jesus asked her to have painted.

So I went there with a fearful heart. My heart was close to God,

but just by going there, making this choice,

this little effort, taking this small step, there was enough of an opening for

God to enter through the locked door of my heart and put out his mercy and peace.

And that's what he does when he comes and enters our heart.

In the gospel, we read that the first words that he said to his apostles when

he entered the locked room was, Peace be with you.

He shows that he is with us in our pain and brings the only remedy, his peace.

So when God comes into our hearts, he always comes with love.

He never comes with turmoil or judgment. he comes with mercy.

We already have enough of judgment from ourselves and others.

All we need now is his love.

We also read in the gospel that he showed them, the disciples, his hands and his side.

He showed them his wounds and that's how they recognize him.

He wasn't ashamed of his scars, because he knew the power of the resurrection

that glorified them, that glorified his wounds.

That's how his mercy works. Jesus' mercy reveals our wounds,

because love reveals sin, not to shame us, but to heal us.

So his mercy helps us look at our wounds without fear, or judgment.

So they may be cleansed and glorified and become a proof of resurrection.

Christ's wounds bring peace. He says to his disciples three times in today's

gospel, peace be with you.

They still don't get it. Peace be with you. Still don't get it.

Peace be with you. Three times.

And we can see the resemblance of the scene in a sense, this image at the beginning of every Mass.

When a priest begins the Eucharist, what does he say? The Lord be with you. He extends his hands.

The bishop literally says the same words, peace be with you.

Because the Episcopacy is the fullness of orders.

So he says the same words as Christ did, peace be with you. He extends and exposes his wounds to you.

A priest who prays and knows his brokenness, His brokenness makes him,

and knowledge of his brokenness makes him trustworthy, credible messenger of the gospel.

And we also are called to continue this sacred mission.

Through our personal wounds, God's mercy can flow.

Our wounds healed by Christ heal others.

Just like Thomas only believed after touching Jesus' wound, people will believe

when they see that our testimony is real.

It's not a theory, but something we lived.

That's how we become faithful witnesses of God's mercy.

So never be afraid to reveal your wounds to God. How?

Well, Jesus tells us in today's gospel, when he gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins.

He says, receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained.

So through the sacrament of confession, which is the sacrament of love,

sacrament of mercy, we can reveal our wounds and bring our sins to him,

to Jesus, and he will heal them and glorify them.

Never be afraid to do that.

Jesus said to St. Faustina, Let no soul fear to draw near to me,

even though its sins be as scarlet.

My mercy is so great that no mind, whether of a man or an angel,

will ever fully understand it.

God's mercy is incomprehensible.

Never think that your sins are too great to God to forgive. And if you can remember

anything from this homily, let it be this. Remember this.

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven.

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven.

God's mercy is abundant and endless. And it is greater than the worst sin ever committed.

All we have to do is trust in his mercy, trust in God.

That's why on the image of Divine Mercy, we read encryption on the bottom, Jesus, I trust in you.

Yes, we can trust him because he's on this image already resurrected. He's truly risen.

He fully reveals himself to us. Now imagine this picture without Jesus. He's not there.

What we can see is just darkness.

We look at the darkness of our sin when we look at the picture without Jesus.

All we can see is the misery of our sin. but

he steps out of that darkness he conquered

it he comes to meet us

to prevent us from falling into sin again and

again and he invites us to follow him and he will do it over and over again

so we don't have to worry about committing another sin because always have we

always can come back to him he calls us to conversion but to follow jesus we have to turn around.

We have to leave the darkness behind us and we have to leave our sins behind

us only then can we walk with help with him, help others and become faithful witnesses of his mercy,

Jesus also mentioned to Saint Faustina this I demand the worship of my mercy

through the solemn celebration of the feast and through the veneration of the

image I have commanded to be painted By means of this image,

I shall grant many graces to souls.

And I remember when I stood in front of that image for the first time,

I didn't truly believe in my heart. My understanding of God was intellectual.

But I prayed a simple, you might say clumsy prayer. I said this,

God, if you're there, help me.

Even such a weak prayer was enough.

Because even a tiny opening of the heart allows God's mercy to float in.

And after that prayer, as I left the chapel, the first thought that came into

my mind was, go to confession. and some of you may know my story.

I did go to confession after 17 years of being close off and that confession changed my life.

My heart had been locked away full of fear that God didn't want to see what is inside.

I was ashamed of that, but Jesus didn't. Jesus isn't afraid.

He comes through the locked doors, just like in the gospel. and brings peace.

And today he wants to do the same with each one of you.

Jesus said to Faustina, the soul that will go to confession and receive Holy

Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishments.

On that day, the Divine Mercy Sunday, all the divine floodgates through which grace's flow are open.

So today the whole heaven is open and ready to pour out the graces into your heart.

All the graces you need for your holiness, for your conversion,

for living without sin, and being a true witness of Christ.

Those graces are ready to be poured out to your heart.

Jesus told also Faustina that mankind will not find peace until it turns to his mercy.

When we receive mercy, our hearts are filled with God's grace.

We become the vessels of mercy, going into the world and giving his mercy to others.

Because when we resemble God the most, when we forgive.

When we receive mercy to receive it

we have to practice it and there are two ways that how we could become the vessel

of mercy to the world first one is deeds so doing acts of mercy for example

helping someone in need or feeding the hungry caring for the lonely think about

anyone who needs your help,

Second thing is words, speaking words of encouragement, gratitude,

forgiveness, or love to someone who needs it.

Think about anyone in your family or your friends.

Maybe there is some resentment in your heart. There is something that is unforgiven.

Maybe that's the time to unlock those doors.

And the third one is prayer, praying for the souls in need, praying for conversions,

and also for those who have died for the souls in purgatory or praying just simply with each other.

If you do those things today and if you did go to confession within the last

10 days or go to confession within the next 10 days,

all the graces from this special feast are available for you.

But there is also an exceptional opportunity to go to confession today during

the hour of mercy that will be celebrated here at St. Anne today, 3 p.m.

And God calls you to come and receive these graces for your life.

Today's feast, it's a beautiful continuation of Easter and our new life in Christ's resurrection.

And it shows how much God can do with one soul that gives everything to him, like St. Faustina.

From a tiny village.

And today, open your heart, even just a little. Say, Jesus, I trust in you, and let him in.

May he bring you true peace and pour his mercies into your heart.

Because every act of kindness, forgiveness, word of mercy, and prayer can change lives.

Bring conversion and save souls.

So don't be afraid. allow yourself today to be a part to be part of this divine

plan and to become the vessel of God's mercy.