Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy
Also Read: Mass Readings for 7 April 2024
Gospel: John 20: 19-31
Jesus Christ is Divine Mercy incarnate. Today’s Gospel is giving us too many reasons to conclude so. Look at the final remarks of Jesus’s introductory discussion with his disciples. He gives them the authority to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus is showing utmost mercy to share his divine power of forgiveness with the disciples. Forgiveness is the zenith of mercy. Jesus empowered his apostles to forgive sin and thus instituted the sacrament of confession. “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Confession thus, is the sacrament of mercy.
Quiet often, we hear the question, “Why should I confess to a priest, Can’t God who knows everything not forgive my sins directly?” Of course, God can! But God could also create you without bothering your parents! He created everything from nothingness. The God of the Bible, who gave Salamon his wisdom, could make you educated and wise without bothering you by attending long years in schools and universities! Indeed, God could heal you without the aid of medical professionals. Do you think they all do what God cannot do?
The parents, the teachers, and the medical professionals have a role in our existence because God designed it so. The same way Jesus authorized his apostles to distribute Divine mercy. The apostles handed over the authority to the Church, and the Church exercised the authority through consecrated priests. Now it is up to us to avail the Divine Mercy.
When Naaman approached Prophet Elisha to cure his leprosy, he asked him to take seven dips in the river Jordan. Naaman felt it ridiculous. But a trusted servant intervened with these words, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” (2 Kings 5: 13). Naaman obliged and he got cured so much so “his flesh was restored and became clean like that of an infant” (2 Kings 5: 14).
When you confess, you are spiritually restored as pure as an infant. Many things God could do directly are being done through human beings. God in His mercy, has empowered us to participate in His authority. Forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of confession is one among them. If you are skipping it, you are skipping Divine Mercy.
Rather than skipping it, let us celebrate the sacrament of confession, albeit the sacrament of Divine Mercy, as often as possible.
Amen.
