Divine Mercy Sunday
Don’t Let Sin Enslave Us?



This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Divine Mercy. Our Lord told St. Maria Faustina, “My daughter tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy” (Diary,699). This feast calls to mind the graces promised by our Lord not only for you and me but also for the whole world. As we celebrate this feast, we are reminded of the benevolent and compassionate love of God – a love that is shown to us in a sublime way through the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is love and mercy itself. However, the greatest enemy of this love is fear. We are afraid because we thought our sins can change God’s love for us. We are afraid because we cannot believe that we can be forgiven. And because of fear we would rather be slaves of sin than experience the merciful love of God. Perhaps this story could illustrate our fears.

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with, out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back to dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed the he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

There is so much fear in us because the devil keeps throwing the sins of our past in our face. (You lie, you steal, you hurt someone, you harbor grudge in your heart, you are envious/jealous, you are lustful, and you are bad) We feel guilty but we don’t ask for forgiveness. We are afraid because the devil planted this fear in our hearts to keep us from coming to the Lord so that he can make us his slaves. However, what we need to know is, God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He is just waiting for us to confess our sins. He wants us to know that He loves us and that we are forgiven because His love is greater than our sins. He is just wondering how long would we let the devil make a slave of us.

When St. Maria Faustina looked at the image of the Divine Mercy, she heard in the depths of her soul, “Fear nothing I am with you always” (Diary 586). As we look at the image of the Divine Mercy, may we also hear these words so that we can respond to the Jesus’ love by putting our trust in Him. In Jesus we can find comfort in all our anxieties and fears. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear” (1Jn.4:18).