What a week we’ve had! And what a week awaits us!

We are just finishing up the novendiales, or days of mourning for Pope Francis, and there is a very real possibility that by next Sunday we will have a new pope. (If you haven’t prayed for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis yet, please stop reading this and pray for him!) Perhaps this impacts my life a bit more directly than most, but the death of a pope and the election of a new pope are major events for every Catholic. The pope unites us as one Church, he is called to be our pastor and lead us to holiness, he is to call every human person back to God, and he is not only a successor of the apostles, but as the bishop of Rome, he is the successor of St. Peter. St. Peter was the first to receive the keys of heaven so that he might bind and loose people from their sin, and he was appointed as the rock. Jesus prayed for St. Peter specifically so that when Satan sifted the apostles and they all fell away, St. Peter would be the one to bring them back together. If you put it all together, the pope is to be an example to all of us of what it means to be a member of the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” The morning and evening Masses celebrated on May 6 will be the Masses “for the election of the Pope,” and I encourage you to attend if at all possible.

This past Sunday we celebrated what is now called Divine Mercy Sunday. I did not have the chance last week to write about it, but I think it is always good to contemplate and consider the mercy of God. What is mercy, anyway? St. Augustine teaches us that “mercy is heartfelt sympathy for another’s distress, impelling us to succor him if we can.” (City of God, ix, 5) That is, that when a merciful person sees somebody suffering, he or she strives to comfort, assist, and support the suffering person.

This can help us understand what Divine Mercy is. God sees humanity always, and he knows our suffering. He knows that when we are left to our own devices, we are powerless against sin. He knows that no matter how hard we try, we fear death and our hearts are filled with anguish when those we love leave this life. He knows, even more than us, the profound impact of evil upon this world and how it has harmed humanity. Our God is not a heartless God. St. John reminds us that “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” (1 Jn 4:16) God, who is love, does not see the suffering of humanity and ignore us.

What is God’s response to humanity’s suffering? To death? To sin? It seems like God is not with us in these moments, or maybe we wish that God would take our pain away, would prevent the death of our loved one, whatever it might be. We want our miracle, so to speak. But in these times we must remember the challenging and painful truth: suffering and pain are the wages of sin. To sin is to choose to turn away from God, who is the source of life. If we turn away from Life, then we are due Death. Every one of us has earned these wages, because we have all sinned. In justice, there is no way we can ever pay back these wages of sin. No amount of suffering will ever “balance the account,” not even death.

This is where God comes in. Sometimes we do not Him, because our suffering is so great that it blinds us. But that doesn’t change the truth: God, in His Divine Mercy, sent His Son to save us from the slavery of Sin and the power of Death; He has opened the gates of Heaven to those who follow His Son. Even more, His Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, always fill us with the love and the grace of God, which means that we never suffer alone. No matter what we go through, the Holy Spirit of God, who we call the Consoler, the Comforter, the Advocate, and the Paraclete is always with us, which means that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is always with us, and the Father who is the source of all life is always with us. God comforts us in out sorrows by compassionately walking alongside us as we suffer them. He supports us in our pain by filling us with grace and giving us the strength and courage to move forward. He assists us by showing us the path to eternal glory in Heaven. God, in His sympathy for our distress, came into this world to grant succor to humanity. May we have the humility to accept His Divine Mercy.

Fr. Matt