April 16, 2019 Week 8 - Divine Mercy - Gratefulness

April 16, 2019 Week 8 - Divine Mercy - Gratefulness

What would we do without our friends? You may may be familiar with the lyric of a song which says, “What would you think if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.” As someone said, “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” While we value friendship, we may also have been hurt by friends. Betrayal by a friend is perhaps one of the most difficult experiences one can go through. Someone said, “The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from enemies.”

Imagine how Jesus must have felt when he foresaw that Judas would betray him and that Peter would deny him on the night of the Last Supper. When Jesus offered Judas a morsel of bread--a Jewish gesture of showing how intimate of a friend he was--Judas had already initiated his plans to betray his friend and master. Jesus also knew the strength of Peter’s loyalty and the weakness of his resolution. While Peter was quick to say, “Master… I will lay down my life for you,” Jesus knew that he would deny him that night three times.

We too must admit that we have betrayed Jesus and our loved ones many times through our weaknesses. We come to Mass to receive morsels of Living Bread from Jesus—the sign of his great love for us, and at times we turn our backs on him by the way we treat others. Yet we return to Jesus time and time again in the Sacrament of Reconciliation trusting that his mercy is unconditional.

It is true that trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair. But with God even what cannot be mended can be healed. As Pope Francis beautifully said, “We ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.”