Homily originally presented April 19, 2020

A Pardon like no other!

In my homily last week for Easter Sunday, I began with a story ...

a story that hopefully helped you to realize and never forget

that the whole Human Race was saved from eternal separation from God

by God offering ... His only Son, Jesus, ...up to death so that His Pure Blood

could be poured forth to overcome the worldwide sickness of sin.

In my homily this week for Divine Mercy Sunday, I begin with another story ...

a story that will hopefully help you to realize and never forget ...

that the results that Jesus won for us at Easter

is about way more than just forgiveness of sin.

The Author begins:

Wow!          What kind of pardon did that man receive?

A pardon like no other!

He wasn’t just forgiven for his crimes.

He was also returned to health ... freed from all his earthly debts ...

adopted as family into royalty ... and promised a marvelous inheritance!

That’s quite a pardon ... a pardon like no other!

And that’s precisely the pardon that God has made available ... to all of us!

Do you want that kind of a pardon?      I hope so!      We all need it!

And it’s available ... for the asking!

You see, many times ... we think about Jesus’ death on the Cross ...

only in terms of what it spared us.

There we see God’s love made visible in His forgiveness.

And God’s love is indeed visible in His forgiveness.

But, the fullness of God’s mercy and love ...

the extent of His greatness and glory ...

and the extravagance of His grace ...

doesn’t shine forth in the pardon He extends to us.

No, it shines forth in the relationship to which He calls us.

It shines forth in ... His invitation to Divine Sonship ...

... His invitation for us to become partakers in His own life!

Imagine that ... we sinners ... are invited to become partakers ...

in God’s own Divine life!

Today’s opening story helps us to picture this so well ...

a man guilty of serious sins is adopted and becomes part of a Royal family.

that’s us ... if we accept God’s invitation into His family.

The author of the story ... is Scott Hahn ...

another powerful evangelist for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church!

Not only was Scott at one time a non-Catholic ... but he was an anti-Catholic!

But, during his ongoing studies as a Presbyterian Minister,

Scott studied his way into the Catholic Church ...  

finding in Scripture, the early Church Fathers and the Catholic Church ...

the truth of God.

Since his conversion in 1986, Scott has written over 40 books, given many talks and produced many CD’s to bring God’s truth to the people.

I read his book, “Evangelizing Catholics” when it first came out in 2014 ...

it’s loaded with good insights like the one I shared with you from

Chapter 12 - The Family of God.

I’ve also listened to his CD by the same name over a hundred times!

Yes, the truth of God’s love and mercy is very exciting.

It’s always new ... it’s always life-giving!

And today is a very special day to celebrate this, for today is Divine Mercy Sunday!

Yes, 20 years ago, in the Jubilee Year of 2000, Pope Saint John Paul The Great declared that the Sunday after 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 worshipping Jesus as “The Divine Mercy” on that day

will receive ... a plenary indulgence.

What does that mean? What is a plenary indulgence? Why is that special?

First of all,            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 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.

You see, 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 help ... 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 required to make. 

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 Jesus on Easter Sunday.

This relief from making reparation for sin can be either partial or complete ...

and it’s referred to as either a partial or plenary (full) indulgence.

So, what is an indulgence?

Think of:    Removal ... Punishment ... Church ... Treasury

It’s a removal of the punishment due to sin ...

afforded by the Church ... from the Treasury of God’s graces.

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.

It brings a partial indulgence or a partial remission from punishment.

But God ... in his lavish love ... also offers us a Plenary Indulgence ...

that brings a complete remission from punishment!

Today, Divine Mercy Sunday, is one time when God makes it available.

Think about that!          The full remission of punishment!

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 way 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.

Getting a plenary indulgence would mean ...

that all damage we’ve done for our whole life would be repaired!

So how do we partake of this great gift from Jesus through His Church?

Here are the normal conditions:                                     (and no serious sin since then!)

• Go to Confession (within 20 days before or after) Divine Mercy Sunday.
• 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 veneration of the Divine Mercy image (venerate after Mass)
• Have complete detachment from sin ... and ask for the Plenary Indulgence.

But being in the midst of a pandemic ... these are not normal times.

So, Holy Father, Pope Francis, has announced the following conditions:

Anyone who, with “the will to fulfil the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father's intentions),

as soon as possible,” recites the Divine Mercy Chaplet with the intention

“to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself,”

can receive a plenary indulgence each day.

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.

But remember what you learned in the opening story.

It’s not just about the grace of being forgiven for our sins.

It’s about the wonder of God’s total plan for us ...

 a plan that goes way beyond just forgiving us for our sins.

 a plan that includes His invitation to Divine Sonship in His Royal Family.

So, let’s rejoice in the hope of becoming partakers ... in God’s own Divine Life!