The Second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. The central message of Divine Mercy is that Jesus desires to grant his great mercy to all souls. He wants people to trust in his mercy and to ask for it.
Fear not is the most repeated command in the Bible. The celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday calls us to never doubt our salvation. We are to rid ourselves of fear and rejoice in Jesus our Savior “for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).
Too often we can become disheartened, hopeless, or even despairing because we fear losing the battle to the broken areas of our lives. Despite our many attempts to change, we seem unable to break free from sin. And that’s where Divine Mercy comes into play. Long before we were born, and even before the earth was created, God already knew of all of our sins. “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Divine Mercy is a form of God’s compassion. It is God’s love reaching to meet our needs and overcome our pain and sorrow. “All grace flows from mercy. Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner open their heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest” (Diary of St. Faustina #1507).
