Mercy in the Context of I, Thou, & We – Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)

Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

            The Council of Trent quoted a verse from today’s passage from the Gospel of John, specifically, verses twenty-two and twenty-three, which describe Jesus saying to his disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23) 

         With these words, the Council of Trent teaches that our Lord Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Sacrament of Confession. The role of the Sacrament of the Confession in the Church demonstrates what Benedict XVI states, “Faith, therefore, has not only an ‘I’ and a ‘Thou’, but also a ‘We’ … In other words, there is no faith without the Church.”^[i] Reflecting his one divine nature as a community of persons, our Heavenly Father wants us to relate to the Triune God as a community of persons, in a deeply social manner. In a certain sense, as God came to us through the human flesh of Jesus, so God wants us to be reconciled with one another through the agency of a human being in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. ^[ii]

         Borrowing words from the deceased Holy Father, may we more deeply believe that Jesus “is present only in the We of the community … in the togetherness of the Church’s faith. … Let us stand by each other in the concrete Church, in the Church with the bishop, with the communion of bishops, with the pope, and there let us live out the one Gospel of the Lord, which is the strength of us all. … Let us thank the Lord that he leads us again and again into this unity, and let us seek it over and over and again with all humility and patience.”^[iii]

         When we frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are at the same time reconciled with God and with one another, as God knits us back into unity, always through our free cooperation. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, provided the priest does not impede God’s grace from flowing, God wants us to encounter the humble, patient, and loving Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus wants to radically forgive us by uprooting the very roots of sin, which causes us misery, and by discarding these roots.

         As recounted by Matthew Sewell, Jesus revealed his merciful heart in the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to St. Claude de la Colombiere after another saint, Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque, “approached him, insisting that Jesus had appeared to her and indicated that Fr. Claude should give her spiritual direction. More than a little skeptical … Fr. Claude replied, ‘… If Jesus appears to you again, you go back and ask him what the last mortal sin was that I confessed. If you can tell me that, then I’ll be your spiritual director.’ As it turned out, Sr. Margaret Mary did see Jesus again and asked him that very question. … Jesus simply looked at her and said three words: ‘I don’t remember.’” ^[iv]

         Lord Jesus, increase our faith in your infinite divine mercy that is always available to us if only we say yes to your mercy, especially in the wonderful gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where you desire us to experience your divine mercy. – May God Bless You – Father Peter

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^[i] Joseph Ratzinger, Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983), 27-28.

^[ii] Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity (Revised Edition), trans. J.R. Foster (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 93-94.

^[iii] Benedict XVI, Teaching and Learning the Love of God: Being a Priest Today with a preface by Pope Francis, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2016), 62.

^[iv] Matthew Sewell, “St. Claude and the Lord’s Radical Forgiveness, February 15, 2017,” ncregister.com, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/st-claude-and-the-lords-radical-forgiveness.