March 23, 2010: Divine Mercy Novena Week 7 - Fr. Miles Walsh
Divine Mercy Novena, Week 7: Divine Mercy Greater Than Sin and Despair
Fr. Miles Walsh, the Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church
Throughout the nine weeks of our Divine Mercy novena, we’ve been tracing the theme of Divine Mercy in both Sacred Scripture and in the tradition of the Church, especially in the lives of the saints and in their writings. We’ve looked, for example, at God’s Mercy as it is revealed to us in both the Old and the New Testaments, and we’ve also looked at the message of Divine Mercy in the writings of saints like St. Paul in the first century, St. Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries, St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, and St. Catherine of Siena in the fourteenth century. Last week Fr. Paul introduced us to St. Catherine’s Dialogue of Divine Providence, which is really the record of a dialogue between God and a soul mystically united to Him in prayer. One of the profound truths we find in the Dialogue of St. Catherine is that the Mercy of God is Greater Than Sin and Despair.
In section 37 of the Dialogue, for example, St. Catherine speaks about the unforgivable sin--the sin that even God Himself cannot forgive. To be sure, St. Catherine did not come up with the concept of an unforgivable sin on her own. In all three synoptic Gospels, in Mark, chapter 3 (v. 29); in Matthew, chapter 12 (v. 32); and in Luke, chapter 12 (v. 10), Jesus teaches that every sin which a man commits can be forgiven except “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” No less an authority than the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the sin of despairing of the Mercy of God. The Catechism says (in #1864): There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss. In other words, the only sin that God cannot forgive is our final and obstinate decision to reject his offer of Divine Mercy in Jesus Christ. This sin is also a sin against the Holy Spirit because the Spirit of God inspires within us the gift of trust in Christ as well as the ability to humbly repent of our sin, and so to persist in the attitude of not trusting and of refusing to repent is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is an ultimate rejection of God’s grace!
Question: Who among us would dare to approach to the confessional to ask God for the forgiveness of our sins unless we had some measure of faith, however small, in the Mercy of God, and trust in Jesus Christ? I know I could not. I’ve been tempted at times to think that my sinfulness is so great that God could not change my heart, that He could not forgive my sin, that I was beyond hope of redemption, but to give in to such an attitude is to give in to despair. If I had done that, I wouldn’t be here today. Yet how many individuals persist in believing and acting as though they are beyond the reach of God’s mercy and forgiveness, beyond His power to bring them back to Him?
In her dialogue, St. Catherine describes how God the Father spoke to her about this obstinate rejection of His Mercy. The Lord said to her: The sin which can never be forgiven is the refusal, the scorning of my mercy. This offends me more than all the other sins committed by men. The despair of Judas displeased me more...and was a greater insult to my Son than was his betrayal. Those who consider their sins to be greater than my mercy will be punished with the demons and are eternally tormented with them, for they grieve more for their own plight than for having offended me. This is a great injustice to Me, for they refuse to give me what is mine and will not take what belongs to them. It is their duty to offer Me their love and bitter contrition for the sins they have committed against Me. Instead they lavish tender love on themselves and feel sorry about the punishment they expect for their sins. They have scorned my mercy, so I turn them over to my justice (section 37).
By the way, St. Catherine is not saying here that God desires to destroy those who refuse his Mercy--far from desiring to destroy them, she says, God ultimately permits souls who stubbornly reject His offer of Mercy to destroy themselves, for the simple reason that He has given us the gift of freedom, the freedom to accept or reject His love. If you’ve ever known or loved someone who stubbornly refused the offer of our friendship, our forgiveness, and our love, then we have some idea of what God is saying to St. Catherine.
In her diary, St. Faustina tells us Jesus revealed this same truth to her, when he said: Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy. I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. Whoever refuses to pass through the door of my Mercy must pass through the door of my justice (Diary 1146). How blessed are we that God has sent us his saints as messengers and apostles, to tell us how great the Mercy of God is!
Next week Fr. Paul will look at Divine Mercy in the writings of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower in the nineteenth century; and then in the final week, I will speak about the private revelation of Jesus’ Sacred Heart, given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the seventeenth century. I want to remind you that next week is Holy Week. I want to encourage your attendance at the Sacred Triduum, beginning on Holy Thursday; and also remind you that at next Tuesday night’s novena we will take up a special collection for Catholic Radio of Baton Rouge. (Information cards will be handed to you as you leave church tonight.) Also, I’d like to remind you that we still have copies of the little booklet by Fr. Kosicki which describes the importance of Divine Mercy Sunday. Those booklets will be available in the vestibule after Mass.
The Mercy of God is infinitely greater than Sin and Despair! And so we pray: Jesus, I trust in You!
