Divine Mercy: "It's Been Real The Whole Time.”

A young woman for years kept house for her father and mother. Morning, noon, and night she got their tea out of a can which had a picture of the rock of Gibraltar on the lid.

After her parents died, she took a trip to the Mediterranean Sea, and suddenly, as she looked through the porthole of the ship, she saw the Rock of Gibraltar--the same rock she had seen on the can of tea all those years. “I almost cried out,” she said. “I kept whispering to myself. Then it’s real! It’s been real all the time!”

Jesus told St. Faustina, "Oh, if only all souls knew who is living in our churches...!" — From the Diary of St. Faustina, 409

Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and the message of Divine Mercy is not new to the teachings of the Church, but Sister Faustina's Diary sparked a great movement, and a strong and significant focus on the mercy of Christ. Saint John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina in 2000 making her the "first saint of the new millennium."

Part of the Opening Prayer of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is, “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!”

To illustrate: When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at “the house of the dying” in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, “And what can I do for you?” Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him.

“What do you want me to pray for?” she asked. He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: “Pray that I have clarity.”

She said firmly, “No, I will not do that.”

When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So, I will pray that you trust God.”

The A-B-C’s of mercy are—Ask for mercy, Be merciful, Completely trust in God’s mercy. St. Faustina wrote that the purpose of the chaplet's prayers for mercy are threefold: to obtain mercy, to trust in Christ's mercy, and to show mercy to others. [Diary 27]

Jesus had Divine Mercy on Thomas.

A mother took her little three-year-old son to Mass for the first time. The child got impatient waiting for Mass to start. Turning to his mother the boy asked, “When does Jesus get here?”

Thomas got a little impatient. He had these conditions-- physical conditions-- before he would believe. Thomas had no patience in the testimonies and confessions of faith in the risen Jesus that others have told him. Thomas said he would not believe unless Jesus fulfills Thomas’ exacting conditions.

“Even though the doors were locked,” which is in the adversative grammatical construction. The verse is telling us that Jesus’ body can pass through locked doors. And locked hearts.

Jesus did appear and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." What parts of my life need more peace? Need more faith? How can I be a force for peace in my family and community? For those who suffer from depression, just being aware that Christ wanted us to have peace in our hearts is important, so we can pray with absolute confidence that we will eventually experience it.

Notice that the resurrected Jesus cannot appear without the nail marks. Rev. 1:18 and Rev. 2:8 speak of the victorious lamb standing, “as though it had been slain.” It’s the vindication of God in Christ. Scars into stars.

The Divine Mercy chaplet prayer begins: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”

Atonement is Propitiation. Atonement is Expiation. Know this word, Atonement? The Church teaches that the Mass is a true and real sacrifice offered to God, indeed, that it is the selfsame sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sins. The Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of Calvary, but re-presented and offered in an unbloody manner, not only in adoration and thanksgiving, but also in propitiation or atonement or expiation for sins.

Atonement by Jesus once and for all means that we can have "unhindered access to the sanctuary of God's presence." The result of this right to access is, undoubtedly, the assurance of Divine Mercy and salvation from wrath.

The Eucharist is Jesus—"My Lord and my God!" as Thomas said.

It’s been real the whole time!