Divine Mercy: Yours for the Asking, by Marcellino D’Ambrosio
Pro-Lifers to Trump: No Abortion-Tainted Vaccines, by Kristine Christlieb
April 17, 2020
Las Cruces Bishop Explains Decision to Resume Public Masses, Even With Civic Restrictions, by Ed Condon
April 17, 2020
Image by D Casp from Pixabay
By Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D., Catholic Exchange, April 17, 2020
Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio writes from Texas.
Several years ago, the Catholic Church declared the Sunday after Easter “Divine Mercy Sunday.” So what exactly is “mercy” anyway, and what does it have to do with the Easter season?
Mercy is not just pity. Neither is it simply sparing someone the punishment that they deserve. No, mercy is love’s response to suffering. When mercy encounters suffering, it ultimately seeks to alleviate it. God the Father is so “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4) that Paul calls him “the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3).
Jesus is the perfect human image of the Father’s mercy. When he meets those suffering from hunger, he feeds them. When he encounters someone suffering from physical sickness, he heals them.
True mercy is not superficial, but radical. And Jesus sees that the deepest suffering in human life, the root cause of all other suffering, is sin. Sin debases us, robbing us of our dignity, weakening and even rupturing our connection with God, our loving Father and the source of our life. Sin is not just a transgression of some arbitrary law; it creates a wound in us that can fester and, if not attended to, corrupt us entirely. It gives the Prince of Darkness a hold in our lives that he tries to turn into complete control of our lives. True mercy seeks to alleviate this deeper suffering that can lead to eternal suffering. ….
Read more here: https://catholicexchange.com/divine-mercy-yours-for-asking
