Homily originally presented April 28, 2019

Divine Mercy includes both Forgiveness & Reparation!

Imagine for a moment that after Mass you’re in the parking lot talking to a friend while standing next to your car … when someone backing out of their parking space  hits your car ...  breaking your taillight and denting your fender.

Well, they immediately get out of their car and come over to you ...

telling you how sorry they are for their mistake and asking for your forgiveness.

Now, having just come from Mass, you graciously say,

“Don’t worry … fortunately no one was hurt… it’s ok … I forgive you.” 

So the other person heaves a big sigh of relief, thanks you earnestly ...

and then gets back into their car and starts to drive away.

Seeing this, you call out to them, “Hey stop! You are going to fix my car aren’t you?”

And they say, “Oh, you’re right ... it’s only just that I fix your car back the way it was.”

I hope that this little example helps you see the distinction between forgiveness and reparation ...  they are two separate aspects of the process of reconciliation.

When you forgave the person for breaking your taillight and denting your fender,

that was an important step toward reconciliation ... but it was just the first step

They expressed their sorrow for damaging your car ... and you forgave them.

But your car is still damaged ... and it needs to be repaired ...

to bring it back to its proper operating condition.         

That’s going to involve the process of

… repairing the damage to your taillight and your fender.

Hopefully the other person is insured, but they may still have to pay a deductible and their insurance rates may be affected by this additional accident. 

In some way, big or small, they will have to invest themselves in making this situation right … of repairing the damage that they have done to your car.

Now consider for a moment what happens when we sin.

Sin is the misuse of our freedom ...

whereby we damage our relationship with God and with our neighbors.

Yes, sin wounds the family ... the mystical Body of Christ.

Whenever we sin, there is damage.

For example, mankind still suffers from the sin of Adam and Eve, our First Parents, in that we’re born into this world w/ the stain of Original Sin on our soul.

Another example of the residual damage of sin is apparent in the Bible account in

2 Samuel where after King David commits the sins of adultery and murder and repents,  the Prophet Nathan tells him, “The Lord has forgiven you your sin: you shall not die … but the sword shall never depart from your house …

and I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.”

Here again we see the 2 dimensions of recovery from sin ...

forgiveness of the sin ... and ... the need to repair the damage

Just as when your car taillight & fender was damaged in an accident ...

and the act was forgiven … but the damage still needed to be fixed!

So too, when we damage our souls by sin, we’re responsible to do two things:

seek forgiveness from God, and make reparation for our offenses.

An integral part of going to the Sacrament of Confession involves your desire to fix the damage done by your sins … by performing the penance you receive.

It’s called Satisfaction meaning that by doing your penance, you are attempting to satisfy the need to repair the wounds your sins have made to the body of Christ.

The Priest’s words of absolution accomplish the first step, gaining God’s forgiveness.

Doing your penance accomplishes the second step,

making amends for the wounds you created by your sins.

One reason for penance  is to make us realize the magnitude of sin’s evil. It’s not as easy as crashing into someone’s car, saying you’re sorry and driving away! Something must be done to correct what we broke.

A second reason for penance is that often times our sorrow is not equal to the malice of our sins. We often don’t comprehend the huge ripple effect of sin ...  

especially for grave and serious sins like adultery, murder and abortion.

Many other lives are impacted when we commit grave sin ...

and a lot of repair will be required to make things right.

And third reason for penance is to allow us to repair the wounds of our sins

here on earth and shorten our time in Purgatory.

Purgatory is where we go to be purified before entering into Heaven.

Purgatory is where we go to atone for unforgiven Venial sins ...

and to make reparation for all other forgiven sins

that required more penance than we performed on earth.

I share all this with you as a backdrop to the core message from our readings today and to the Feast that we celebrate today ...  the Feast of Divine Mercy.

Just last week we celebrated the fact that we have a Savior, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who ... by His suffering and death has reconciled us with the Father.

He now sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.

There, He dispenses grace and mercy so that we can live in His light on earth ...

 and live forever in His light in Heaven.

Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the Risen Lord?

Do you acclaim Him as did Thomas in the Gospel saying, “My Lord and my God?”

If you do, then you’re on the right track. Because as we heard today from the end of John’s Gospel, “(These things were) written so that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

   and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

Yes, God created us to be with Him forever. But we get to choose whether we want that or not. It’s only by believing in Him and following Him that we have the chance to be with Him forever.

Jesus affirmed this in our Second Reading from the Book of Revelation saying,

“I am first and the last, the one who lives.

Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.”

Once we too were dead in sin. But then in Baptism, we became alive in Christ!

This is where we need to stay, alive in Christ, in order to enter into Heaven.

But given our human weaknesses,

we often slip into sin and damage the life of Christ in our soul.

Jesus knew this and that’s why He gave His Apostles ...

 the first Bishops of His Church ... the power to forgive sins!

In our Gospel today, The Risen Jesus comes to His Apostles gathered in the Upper Room and He breathes on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

And today, 2000 later, that power to forgive sins

is still available through His Priests and Bishops! 

Our God is a God of Mercy. And His Mercy is without end!

We heard this truth proclaimed several times in Psalm 118, where the Psalmist said,

“Let the house of Israel say, His mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron say, His mercy endures forever.

Let those who fear the Lord say, His mercy endures forever.”

Today we celebrate the enduring Mercy of God.    It’s the Feast of Divine Mercy!

It’s a day established by Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000

when he declared that the 2^nd Sunday of Easter would henceforth be celebrated as

Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the Universal Church.

And as the Vicar of Christ’s Church, he declared that all Catholics, who will:

• go to Confession,
• go to Mass on this Day, and worthily receive Holy Communion,
• venerate the Image of Jesus the Divine Mercy,
• pray for the intentions of the Pope,
• and have total detachment from sin, will...
• receive complete forgiveness of sins
• and complete reparation for the damage!

This means that going to Confession during this time would not only take away sins,

but also the repair associated with them! (  From the beginning of Holy Week)

Can we even begin to comprehend how incredible this offer is?

Yes, we know that we receive God’s forgiveness of our sins each time

we celebrate the sacrament of Confession.

But Jesus goes beyond that here by offering the complete remission of all temporal punishment. And so, all the time that we would need to spend in Purgatory

 to repair the wounds of our sins is wiped away. It’s called a Plenary indulgence!

That means that all wounds for our whole life would be repaired!

Forgiveness granted and reparation made ... together at the same time!

It’s like having

your parking lot accident forgiven and the car repaired in the same instant!

A plenary indulgence removes all sin and all punishment!

This is a tremendous act of God’s mercy.

Let’s not miss the chance to draw deeply on Jesus’ endless fountain of Mercy!

What a Great God we have:

• Through His suffering and Passion, Jesus gave us our Redemption.
• Out of His great love and care, Jesus gives us Himself in the Holy Eucharist
• And our of great compassion, Jesus gives us His Divine Mercy.

Receiving just any one of these gifts would move a person to say,

Thank you over and over again.

But to have access to all three is the reason why all the Saints in Heaven

never stop thanking God, for His awesome love for all of  us.

Let’s carry our Psalm Response with us throughout the day as we ...

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever.”