Homily presented April 8, 2018
Jesus, who is Divine Mercy, offers forgiveness and reparation!
This is a very busy season for our Bishop ... as he travels to all the Parishes of the Diocese to bestow the Sacrament of Confirmation on our children, 8th grade and up. He will visit 2 or 3 or 4 parishes each week to cover our 50 Parishes!
Now it’s customary for Bishop Baker to meet with those being confirmed
and ask them a number of questions beforehand to assure him
that they have been properly instructed in the faith.
He’ll ask them to recite 7 Fundamental Catholic Prayers:
Apostles Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be,
Act of Contrition, Morning Offering and Guardian Angel Prayer.
He’ll ask them to recite the 10 Commandments and name the 7 Sacraments,
the 7 Gifts and the 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit, the graces of Confirmation,
the definition of a Sacrament and the definition of Indulgence.
Those are some of the things our Children are expected to know ... and if they don’t know them ... then perhaps they’re not ready for the Gift of Confirmation.
So tell me ... how would you do in answering those questions?
Do you know the 10 Commandments ... the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit ...
the definition of a Sacrament and the definition of an Indulgence?
If not, I hope you’ll go home today and look them up in your Bible or your Catechism.
Everyone needs to know these important parts of our Catholic Faith.
One of them in particular applies to our Feast today ... the Feast of Divine Mercy.
And that is indulgence. What is an indulgence?
Listen to the definition given in our Catechism:
“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment
due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven ...
which the Christian gains through the action of the Church ...
which dispenses with authority
the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the Saints.”
Wow! That quite a definition ... it sounds pretty involved ... and it is.
So, let’s break it down to 4 main parts:
Remission ... Punishment ... Church ... Treasury
The key word the Bishop is looking for is “remission” ...
remission means removal of ... or ... relief from ...
from what ... from “temporal punishment”
which is the punishment we are due to experience...
in this life and in the life to come ...
for all the mortal and venial sins that we’ve committed that God has forgiven.
Yes, recovery from sin is two-fold process ...
it involves forgiveness and reparation.
You see, Jesus’ Mercy imparts forgiveness ... Jesus’ Justice requires reparation.
It’s like accidently backing into another Parishioner’s car in the Parking Lot.
The Parishioner may well forgive you for crushing his fender ...
but you’ve created damage and the expectation is that you will fix the damage.
In the same way reparation is required for the damage we create by our sins.
But, Jesus, in His goodness, has given Authority to His Church ... to dispense supernatural relief ... to repair the damage we’ve created by our sins.
Recall how Jesus says to the Lead Apostle, Peter, in Matthew16:
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Here, Jesus gave authority to Peter to dispense supernatural repair of sins ...
to cover the reparation that we would normally be accountable for.
This supernatural relief from having to make reparation for our sins ...
is referred to as indulgence ...
and it comes from the Church, who has the authority to dispense ...
the great Treasury of Graces
made available by the Lord in His work of Redemption.
This relief from making reparation for sin can be either partial or complete ...
and it’s referred to as either a partial or plenary indulgence.
So, what is an indulgence?
Think of: Remission ... Punishment ... Church ... Treasury
It’s a removal of the punishment due to sin ...
that is afforded by the Church ... from the Treasury of God’s graces.
And the reason that this is especially important today is because:
The Church has attached a Plenary Indulgence ...
to worthily worshipping Jesus ... under the title of “Divine Mercy” ...
on this the Sunday after Easter ... Divine Mercy Sunday!
Eighteen years ago, in the Jubilee Year of 2000, Pope Saint John Paul The Great declared that the 2nd Sunday of Easter would henceforth be celebrated as
Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the Universal Church.
And as the Vicar of Christ’s Church, the Pope declared that all Catholics,
who worthily prepare themselves and participate in this devotion ...
will receive a plenary indulgence ...
which is the removal of all punishment for their sins!
Think about that! The full remission of punishment means that a soul would be spared any time of purification in Purgatory and go straight to Heaven.
Can we even begin to comprehend how incredible this offer is?
While we know that we always receive Jesus’ forgiveness for sins in Confession.
Jesus goes beyond that here by offering the complete remission of all the penance
we would have had to offer to repair the wounds of those sins.
He offers us a plenary or full indulgence ...
which means that all damage we’ve done for our whole life would be repaired!
We’re used to receiving a Penance each time we go to Confession ...
That’s the action we do to demonstrate our desire to repair the wounds of sin.
But it brings only a partial indulgence or a partial remission from punishment.
A Plenary Indulgence brings a complete remission from punishment!
So how do we partake of this great gift from Jesus through His Church?
We complete the following steps: (and no serious sin since then!)
- Go to Confession on Divine Mercy Sunday or since Tues of Holy Week ↑
- Attend Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday and receive Holy Communion
- Pray for the intentions of the Pope (included in our Prayer of the Faithful)
- Spend time in devotion to the Divine Mercy image (venerate after Mass)
- Have complete detachment from sin ... and ask for the Plenary Indulgence.
What a magnificent demonstration of Jesus’ infinite love for us ...
that after granting us forgiveness ... He absorbs our penance!
How much mercy does Jesus have to bestow? A limitless ocean of Mercy!
That’s what we celebrate on Divine Mercy Sunday .. God’s endless Mercy!
We reverenced this in our Responsorial Psalm today as our Cantor sang:
“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.”
How blessed we are to have access to God’s limitless mercy.
God knows we need it!
He knows that given our human weakness and the many temptations of the devil,
we often fall into sin ... and weaken or break our relationship with Him.
Jesus knew this would happen ... which is why He left His Apostles ...
the first Bishops of His Church ... with the power to forgive sins!
In our Gospel today, Jesus comes to His Apostles gathered in the Upper Room right after His Resurrection and He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
So, Jesus left us access to His Mercy through the Ministers of His Church, the Priests.
What a Great God we have … He gives us everything:
- Before His Passion, Jesus gave us Himself in the Holy Eucharist
- Through His Passion, Jesus accomplished Redemption.
- in His great Compassion, Jesus forgives our sins with His Divine Mercy.
Let’s carry the joy of Easter and the joy of Divine Mercy out to the whole world!
Do you remember the definition of indulgence?
Purgatory because of our sins is wiped away!
Consider what Purgatory is ... in the words of Jesus to St. Faustina:
“Today bring to me the souls who are detained in Purgatory and immerse them in the abyss of My Mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice.
Purgatory is real.
And to be freed from the time of purification there is a huge blessing.
On this day ... Divine Mercy Sunday ... we have access, though the Church, to a Plenary Indulgence, which removes our time in Purgatory!
Let’s not miss the chance to draw deeply from Our Lord’s fountain of Mercy.
If you’ve been to confession within the past 2 weeks and have not committed any mortal sins ... and you receive Holy Communion today
and venerate the image of Jesus, the Divine Mercy ... having complete detachment from sin and placing your complete trust in Jesus
and pray for the intentions of the Pope ...
you will receive the Plenary Indulgence.
What a Great God we have:
- Through His suffering and Passion, Jesus gave us our Redemption.
But that wasn’t enough. Jesus wants us to have more than enough.
- In His great love, Jesus gives us Himself in the Holy Eucharist
But that wasn’t enough. Jesus wants us to have more than enough.
- In His great compassion, Jesus gives us access to His Divine Mercy.
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