Mar. 2, 2010: Divine Mercy in the New Testament
(Click here for audio homily)
Last Tuesday at the Divine Mercy Novena mass, Fr. Miles spoke about mercy as God's greatest attribute. Fr. Miles said, "because there is no sinfulness or lack of love in God, the Father does not need to be merciful to the Son or to the Holy Spirit, nor do the Son and Holy Spirit need to extend mercy to the Father or to one another. The Mercy of God is only expressed in relationship to us, because we need it, because we would perish without it." An image I have of this is a party at home for adults where they are chatting away and having a great time.
The moment a small child slips out of his bedroom into the living room in his pajama looking for his mama, all the adults, all of a sudden stops talking, become captivated by his littleness. Some will inevitably stoop down to the little boy's eye level, to comfort him and and to attend to his every need. When we hear that God is All-powerful, All-knowing, and All-justice, we may get the impression that we cannot approach Him. Yet for the Heavenly Father, we are that little child; He stoops to our littleness and gazes at us with His loving compassion. This is the mercy that God shows us, His children.
This is the precisely the image that Jesus reveals about Heavenly Father in the New Testament. It begins with Jesus, the Almighty God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who arrives in an obscure little town to a teenager, resting in a manger fit for animals. God becomes little for us, small enough for us to hold him in our arms, small enough for us to hold him in our hands during communion. I'm touched during Christmas season when the little children kneel at the Nativity scene, pick up the little statue of Baby Jesus and hold him in their arms. Imagine, a God who is so small and cute that even little children find themselves irresistible to hold. How approachable God is for us!
This approachable God in turn, touches us with his hands and with his words in person, not from a long distance. Often when Jesus healed, he touched the ears so that they may be opened, he touched the eyes so they may see, and he laid his hands on the person who was sick or dying. When someone approached him for healing, he looked at the person with his eyes Even after he ascended to heaven, Jesus made sure that his healing touch and his words were delivered in person by his disciples. God who in Old Testament seemed so distant, is now so near us, in flesh. Even if he does not seem physically present to us, he sends us as his hands, his feet, his mouth, to make present his great mercy for us. I was reminded of this, this afternoon at the hospital. I was at the Baton Rouge General Hospital at Bluebonnet; I came out of the room after anointing someone, and then a lady approached me if I could anoint her father who was dying. When I entered the room her father was near death. I noticed that a small cloth relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was safety-pinned to his gown. I thought to myself that this was not a coincidence. I took out of my bag, a cross with a First Class Relic of Father Seelos embedded on it, and laid it on his chest. I told the family what it was, and the daughter who asked me to come began to cry. She said, "Before I left Texas on a plane this morning, I asked Fr. Seelos to send angels to my dad to escort him to heaven." Jesus truly cared about her dad that he himself came personally, in the person of this priest, to give him the Last Rites and to escort him home.
The New Testament shows this compassionate God who searches for those who are lost. For Jesus, not a single one of us is a number lost among the multitude. Jesus tells us that God is searching for that one sheep lost among the 99 sheep, that one coin lost among the many already in possession. Why? Because each soul is a pearl of a great price. Each soul is purchased at an enormous price of the suffering and death of Jesus who searched for their souls high and low.
Take the Samaritan woman at the well, whose restless heart thirsts for comfort and love, in all the wrong places, seeking them in relationships with various men. She finally finds her thirst quenched in Jesus who offers her Holy Spirit whose water does not leave her thirsting again. In Jesus, she encounters God who does not condemn her, but listens with compassion and leads her gently to conversion of heart. That is God's mercy.
Not single one of us have come to this mass by accident. Each of us has been invited by Jesus, even I. Jesus tells me, Paul, I want you to open your heart to me. Will you answer my invitation? I invited in that Samaritan woman thirsty for lasting and true love, I invited Peter who denied me, I invited Saul who persecuted me, and I invited Judas who betrayed me.
No sin is too grave for me to abandon you. Yet it is you who hide from me and abandon me because of your shame and guilt from your sins. Come and meet Me in the confessional. I have asked my holy servants to patiently wait in the confessionals to welcome you back, to forgive your sins, and to heal you from your hurts. Run back to me like the Prodigal Son. I who am the loving Father is standing on a hill, anxiously looking out for your return. I am waiting here with your ring, ready to put it on you and to celebrate your return. Please return to Me.
Last Tuesday at the Divine Mercy Novena mass, Fr. Miles spoke about mercy as God's greatest attribute. Fr. Miles said, "because there is no sinfulness or lack of love in God, the Father does not need to be merciful to the Son or to the Holy Spirit, nor do the Son and Holy Spirit need to extend mercy to the Father or to one another. The Mercy of God is only expressed in relationship to us, because we need it, because we would perish without it." An image I have of this is a party at home for adults where they are chatting away and having a great time.
The moment a small child slips out of his bedroom into the living room in his pajama looking for his mama, all the adults, all of a sudden stops talking, become captivated by his littleness. Some will inevitably stoop down to the little boy's eye level, to comfort him and and to attend to his every need. When we hear that God is All-powerful, All-knowing, and All-justice, we may get the impression that we cannot approach Him. Yet for the Heavenly Father, we are that little child; He stoops to our littleness and gazes at us with His loving compassion. This is the mercy that God shows us, His children.This is the precisely the image that Jesus reveals about Heavenly Father in the New Testament. It begins with Jesus, the Almighty God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who arrives in an obscure little town to a teenager, resting in a manger fit for animals. God becomes little for us, small enough for us to hold him in our arms, small enough for us to hold him in our hands during communion. I'm touched during Christmas season when the little children kneel at the Nativity scene, pick up the little statue of Baby Jesus and hold him in their arms. Imagine, a God who is so small and cute that even little children find themselves irresistible to hold. How approachable God is for us!
This approachable God in turn, touches us with his hands and with his words in person, not from a long distance. Often when Jesus healed, he touched the ears so that they may be opened, he touched the eyes so they may see, and he laid his hands on the person who was sick or dying. When someone approached him for healing, he looked at the person with his eyes Even after he ascended to heaven, Jesus made sure that his healing touch and his words were delivered in person by his disciples. God who in Old Testament seemed so distant, is now so near us, in flesh. Even if he does not seem physically present to us, he sends us as his hands, his feet, his mouth, to make present his great mercy for us. I was reminded of this, this afternoon at the hospital. I was at the Baton Rouge General Hospital at Bluebonnet; I came out of the room after anointing someone, and then a lady approached me if I could anoint her father who was dying. When I entered the room her father was near death. I noticed that a small cloth relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was safety-pinned to his gown. I thought to myself that this was not a coincidence. I took out of my bag, a cross with a First Class Relic of Father Seelos embedded on it, and laid it on his chest. I told the family what it was, and the daughter who asked me to come began to cry. She said, "Before I left Texas on a plane this morning, I asked Fr. Seelos to send angels to my dad to escort him to heaven." Jesus truly cared about her dad that he himself came personally, in the person of this priest, to give him the Last Rites and to escort him home.
The New Testament shows this compassionate God who searches for those who are lost. For Jesus, not a single one of us is a number lost among the multitude. Jesus tells us that God is searching for that one sheep lost among the 99 sheep, that one coin lost among the many already in possession. Why? Because each soul is a pearl of a great price. Each soul is purchased at an enormous price of the suffering and death of Jesus who searched for their souls high and low.
Take the Samaritan woman at the well, whose restless heart thirsts for comfort and love, in all the wrong places, seeking them in relationships with various men. She finally finds her thirst quenched in Jesus who offers her Holy Spirit whose water does not leave her thirsting again. In Jesus, she encounters God who does not condemn her, but listens with compassion and leads her gently to conversion of heart. That is God's mercy.Not single one of us have come to this mass by accident. Each of us has been invited by Jesus, even I. Jesus tells me, Paul, I want you to open your heart to me. Will you answer my invitation? I invited in that Samaritan woman thirsty for lasting and true love, I invited Peter who denied me, I invited Saul who persecuted me, and I invited Judas who betrayed me.
No sin is too grave for me to abandon you. Yet it is you who hide from me and abandon me because of your shame and guilt from your sins. Come and meet Me in the confessional. I have asked my holy servants to patiently wait in the confessionals to welcome you back, to forgive your sins, and to heal you from your hurts. Run back to me like the Prodigal Son. I who am the loving Father is standing on a hill, anxiously looking out for your return. I am waiting here with your ring, ready to put it on you and to celebrate your return. Please return to Me.
