"Peace Be With You"- Divine Mercy Sunday Homily by Deacon Ted

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.

It is on the octave of Easter.

But you all know that because you've been celebrating all week just like it was Easter, right?

You still have colored eggs in your house?

Some of you have.

You're still singing hallelujah all day long as you go through the day?

Some of you are.

And today, God says, and to you, I give my mercy.

And in today's gospel, Jesus says those words that ring true all the time, peace be with you.

It's strange that He comes in the midst of the disciples who are locked in a room for fear of the Jews and He stands in their midst.

Now these are the same guys who ran away, the same guys who deserted Him, the same guys who weren't there at the foot of the cross just John and Mary

And He comes and the first words He says to them are, Peace be with you.

Do not be afraid.

I'm not here to punish you.

Not any of those things.

He says, Peace be with you.

What is so special about this word, peace?

Peace is not the absence of war.

It's not the absence of conflict.

Peace is living in complete unity with God's will.

So instead of saying, Peace be with you, He could have said, Live in total unity with God's will.

And then He breathes on them

He breathed on them and He said, Behold, receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven, those you retain are retained.

One of the things about mercy is that you can only give it to somebody who asks.

You can only be merciful to somebody and forgive them once they tell you what they've done wrong.

And God's telling them that you now have this power to hear what people have done wrong and give them your mercy.

On this Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church, God Himself, gives us this special indulgence.

Those who go to church, go to mass, go to receive communion in a state without sin, which means you've just gone to confession, and venerate the picture of Divine Mercy and

contemplate what it means.

those people can receive an indulgence which is the complete wiping away of temporal punishment.

translation, if you die today, no purgatory, straight to heaven.

What a great status.

What a special day this is.

And later you'll hear in the announcements, Father's going to be doing confessions from noon to three, and at three o'clock we'll play the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

This is a very special day.

So what is mercy?

We talk about mercy.

During the course of the mass, you can hear the word mercy like 20 times.

And I bet you don't even realize it.

I mean, I just said it three times when I said to Confidio, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy, have mercy.

Mercy is a feeling.

Mercy is a disposition toward people, toward a person who has concern for the readiness to render assistance.

It shows the one who's your friend.

It's a disposition toward the benefit of the other.

Pope Francis, may He rest in peace.

You could probably sum up his pontificate with two words, humility and mercy.

No one could deny that He was a humble man.

The way He lived was very humble.

And all his actions were merciful.

Pope Francis was focused on those who needed mercy most.

those on the peripheries.

He went to places where the church has never gone to say masses, Iraq, the Amazon.

He was always reaching out to touch those who needed mercy, those in prison, those who were hungry.

that's mercy.

But what He did is nothing compared to the mercy of God and the love of God for you.

To give peace is to wish somebody the best.

To give peace is to wish that they have mercy.

To give peace is to wish that they're operating in total unity with God's will.

So today, not just today, every day of your life, ask yourself,

Who do I show mercy to today?

Especially today, on Divine Mercy.

But how about July 22nd?

What are you going to do on July 22nd?

You wake up in the morning and if you listen you're going to say, how can I show mercy to someone today?

So I pray for you and for July 22nd that in God's peace you will show mercy to those in need.