I think most of us have been watching a lot of television the last couple of days.  I’ve been delighted at the wonderful coverage that the death of the Holy Father has received on CNN, Fox News and the other networks as well.  It is really quite extraordinary.  It’s like the whole world’s Catholic for a few days. 
 
One thing I noticed is, more and more, we’re seeing films of the Holy Father when he was first made Pope, or even before he was Pope.  I noticed the relationship he had with his Pastoral staff, which of course is the crucifix.  In his early days when he was strong and vibrant, he would hold that staff up. As he got older and weaker and sicker, that staff and him became one.  There is a picture up here on the altar of him holding his staff and he is leaning against it.  His face and the crucifix are just one. They have melded together. Interesting, isn’t it, how he really was conformed to Christ by what he suffered.  May it be that way with us as well.
 
It is so appropriate this day, this Second Sunday of Easter, that we celebrate the feast of the Divine Mercy.  Last night in Rome, the Holly Father died at 9:37 PM, but at 8:00 PM they celebrated the last mass for him.  It is the mass that we are celebrating now.  It was the same readings, the same responses.  Those were the same readings that he heard before he died.  It was only 5 years ago that John Paul declared that the Second Sunday of Easter would, forevermore, in the Catholic Church, be Divine Mercy Sunday. 
 
On that same day, the 30^th of April in the year 2000, our Holy Father canonized St. Faustina, who was a fellow Pole.  Her name was Helen Kowalska; she became Sister Mary Faustina and was canonized as Saint Faustina.  There is no doubt in my mind that she would not have been canonized a saint and this Sunday would not have been declared the Sunday of the Divine Mercy had it not been for John Paul.  Frankly before John Paul, the writings of Sister Faustina were not highly regarded.  There were even some in the church who did not even believe that Christ had appeared to her.  But John Paul had her case studied with great intensity after he became Pope.  The more it was studied, the clearer it became that this woman had a very direct relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Sister Faustina is a modern saint. She was born in 1905, the same year that my father was born.  That’s not that long ago. Look how young I am.  She died in 1938 at the age of 33, the same age that we believe Jesus was at his death. She wrote a diary and it is very extensive. In her diary are the many meetings she had with Christ.  At one of those meetings, Jesus told her to have a painting of him made as he appeared before her with streams of white and red light flowing from his sides. These streams of light are representing the blood and water that flowed from his side.  The blood indicates the Eucharist and the water, the water of baptism.  The image you see of the Divine Mercy is actually a copy of the painting that was completed at Sr. Faustina’s direction. She was very displeased with the painting; she said that this is not good at all.  Jesus appeared to her and said, “It’s good enough.”  It is what we have to remember this vision by.
 
I could use words from her diary today to talk about God’s mercy.  I really like this notion of mercy because I’m depending on it.  I have no chance to be saved without God’s mercy.  Frankly, to the holiest person here, neither do you.  Without his mercy, we cannot be saved, so I’m very fond of his mercy.  He not only gives us this mercy, he absolutely showers us with it.  He is sloppy with it.  He throws it at us and asks us to spread it around for him.  I could use some of the words from her diary but I’ve got something better I think. 
 
I want to use Jesus’ own words.  What are known as his seven last words, which are not words but phrases.  The seven last phrases he said from the cross.  None of these are in one gospel. Some of them are in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Let's look at those and see what they mean regarding his mercy.  Also, ask yourself the question, "What do they require of me?"  Because what God gives you is a gift that has two edges; one is gift and the other is commission. 
 
When God gives you something, you are supposed to use it and pass it along.  God’s grace is not supposed to be bottled up in a reservoir.  I love the analogy of the river Jordan. It is a very beautiful river and it flows and gives life to everything it touches, except it ends up flowing into the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea is dead, and it’s dead because it is contained within itself, nothing flows out of the Dead Sea.  I think it’s a good analogy for God’s grace and mercy.  It’s not intended to well up in us.  We are not supposed to be reservoirs of God’s grace and mercy. We are supposed to be conduits of God’s grace and mercy.  We are to let it flow through us to others, and He will replenish it.  Don’t worry about losing His grace or his mercy.
 
The first of the seven last words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Now, he said those words after he had been awfully accused, tortured, humiliated, stripped, spat upon, dragged through the streets of Jerusalem, and within minutes or perhaps within an hour of his death, he said those words.  You’ve been hurt haven’t you?  Not like that.  I sure haven’t.  I’ve had to be forgiven a lot more than I’ve had to forgive.  What a remarkable response to being hurt.  He says, “Father, forgive them.”  Not only that, but he pleads our case.  He becomes our advocate, our lawyer.  He pleads ignorance.  He says that they don’t know what they are doing.  He asks the Father to forgive, and the Father does.  But that requires something of us too.  Not only to accept that forgiveness, but we must forgive each other. I know it’s difficult for people. 

People come, especially in confession, and they say, “I cannot forgive her.”  “I cannot forgive him.” We talk about it and I never have any answers.  These things have been brewing for years, sometimes decades.  Finally, I usually say, “Well, if you can’t forgive her, then let the Christ in you forgive her. Get out of His way.”  St. Paul said, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.”  Let the Christ in you forgive the other because that lack of forgiveness is poisoning you.  There is no one who is carrying around hatred and resentment that is not hurting. You have to forgive. Not only because God has forgiven you, but also because that lack of forgiveness is poisoning you, hurting you.  You have to let that go. God’s mercy and grace gives you, gives the Christ in you, the power to truly forgive.  To forgive is an act of holiness. To forget is an act of perfection.  Now, I know, there are no married couples here who, on one hand, have forgiven their spouse but then in turn, when they have a little spat reminded the other of what they did in the past. None of you have ever done that.  Forgetting is difficult, but it is possible with God.
 
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”  I love those words.  Beautiful songs have been written about those words.  You know the situation; Jesus was hanging between two criminals who had been sentenced to death under Roman justice.  They admitted their faults. They deserved to die.  One of the criminals said to Jesus, “Well, if you’re the Messiah, get yourself down from the cross and take us down with you.”  The other criminal said, to paraphrase, why don’t you shut up.  After all, we deserve this, but this man has done nothing.  Then he looked at Jesus and said, “Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus said to him: “This day you will be with me in paradise.”  That was the first confession.  He admitted he was wrong, he admitted he deserved punishment, and he looked at Christ and said, remember me.  That’s what a confession is. 
 
Confession. There I go again.  You heard from John’s Gospel today the institution of that sacrament.  To quote what Bob read, “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ to His Apostles, his first bishops.  ‘Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall hold bound, they are held bound.’”  If that’s not an institution of the sacrament, what in the world was he trying to say?  Listen; don’t claim you’re Catholic if you don’t accept this sacrament.  The majority of Catholics do not go to confession.  I don’t know why.  I don’t know if it’s pride or stupidity.  I don’t know what it is.  You need to get over that.  This is a sacrament that you need.  It was good enough for that criminal next to Christ and so it’s good enough for you and it’s good enough for me. None of us here can remain healthy without going to confession.  You need to go to the dentist twice a year. I said once a year at the earlier mass and Dr. Coriz reminded me it’s twice a year.  You need to go to the dentist twice a year and you need to go to confession as frequently as you need to go to confession.
 
God’s mercy requires that we be merciful.  That’s why our Holy Father was the first Pontiff that really addressed capital punishment as being wrong.  Now, we need to take care of the people who are criminals, people who are doing many evil things.  They need to be locked up but we don’t need to kill them. We really don’t, you know.  It costs so much, but none of that matters.  The reason we Catholics don’t want to kill convicted criminals is because Jesus wouldn’t.  That’s his mercy.  His justice is his mercy and his mercy is his justice.  They are synonymous with God.  We like it when it applies to us, and we, in turn, need to apply it to others.  We don’t need to kill anyone.  We just need to lock them up and keep society safe.  Our Holy Father spoke often and eloquently about this.
 
“Woman, behold your son.  Son, behold your mother.”  I think the most excruciating part of Jesus’ Passion was he had to watch his mother watch him watch her.  Did you get that?  I used to pray, when my mother was alive, that she would die before me, and I told her that.  “Mom I’m praying you’re going to die before me.”  And she said, “Yeah, Good.”  I don’t think my mom could have suffered to see me die, you know, her only son.  I was the last child.  She looked at me at birth and said, “That’s enough.”  Jesus gave at the foot of his cross, his most precious possession, to us.  He gave it to the beloved disciple, that’s you.  That was every disciple, every Christian, so he gave his mother, clearly, he gave her to you.  He said here, this is your mother.  Our Holy Father truly had a great love for Mary, his mother and our mother and the mother of God. 
 
There is an interesting story from when he became Pope.  If you’ve ever been there to the Piazza in St. Peter’s Square, it’s a magnificent place and it’s all plain marble. There is no color there.  There is a little hint of color to the Basilica itself.  If you look around, there are all these statues of saints.  He was in the Piazza, in the square, and a child came up to him and said, “Holy Father, where is Mary?”  There was no replica of Mary there.  Well, there is now.  If you look down a couple of floors and to the right from the Papal Apartment, you’ll see an icon.  It is beautifully painted and colored and it is an icon of Madonna with child.  Pope John Paul put that there.  So now, Mary’s over looking her family as they gather for various occasions in St. Peter’s Square. 
 
We need Mary.  What is a mother’s job but to form her child?  Mary forms us in the image of her son.  That’s her job and we need to let her do that.  Mary is not some kind of little part of Christianity.  She is right in the middle of salvation.  Jesus Christ would not have been born if she did not say “Yes.”  She wasn’t forced to say yes.  She was free.  She said, “Let it be done to me according to thy word.”   Our salvation depended on her fiat, her yes, then and now. Mary is a gift to us.  The motto of this pontificate was “Totus tuus, Maria.”  It means, “All is yours, Mary,” or perhaps he meant that I’m all yours, Mary; help to form me and to guide me.
 
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”   Those are troubling words.  He said that from the cross.  They sound like words of despair but we know He didn’t despair.  So, what did he mean by those words?  Here’s what I think.  At that moment, shortly before he died, Jesus Christ took on every sin that had ever been committed and every sin that would be committed. In the Bible, St. Paul says that he became sin.  Jesus Christ became sin at that moment.  Sin is darkness and God is light. The Father cannot abide sin.  At that moment, on the cross, when He became sin for us, Jesus Christ was as far away from the Father as possible.  He was in darkness and he cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” and the Bible says that God answered in thunder.  It thundered throughout the earth at that moment. 
 
There is a lesson here for us.  No one is too far from God’s mercy to be saved.  Perhaps you’ve said it sometime in your life, “Not me, I’m a bigger sinner than God is a Savior.”  But even if you haven’t said it, you’ve heard it in your family.  There are members of your families who have said that.  When you say, “Why don’t you go to church on Christmas?”  “Not me, I’m not going to church, I don’t belong in church.  I’m lost.  I’m too great a sinner.”  Don’t let that pass next time. You challenge that person.  If Adolf Hitler, in his dying breath said, “I am sorry Lord God, forgive me” Jesus Christ’s mercy would have covered him.  Maybe he did say it.  That's right.  No one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.  The person, who has been farthest away from the Father’s goodness in life, is his own son, who became sin for us.
 
“I thirst.” He wasn’t thirsting for water.  He was thirsting for you and for every soul that was ever conceived.  Jesus Christ had a thirst that can only be quenched by your submission to him.  What do you do?  You give yourself to Christ according to his way, not according to your way.  Follow him as he teaches.   “If you love me, follow my commandments.”
 
Then he said, “It is finished.”  He accepted death.  There is a lesson there for us: we need to accept death.  We are not leaving here without it.  There is no other way out.  You are going to die.  I am going to die.  We live in this death denying, death defying society.  We don’t even like getting old.  In our society, we've denied the value of the elderly.  In Asia, they revere the elderly because they are closer to the end of their journey.  We need to accept the reality of death and even look forward to it.  I’ve seen people look forward to death.  I am convinced our Holy Father was.  He wrote a note not long before he died. He said, “Don’t be sad, share the joy with me for I am going home," or something like that.  We need to quit denying death.  I am looking forward to getting old.  People are nice to you when you’re old.  Not only that, when you’re old, you can say anything you want, except to your spouse, who is also old.  It’s true.  Old people get away with a lot.  It’s a good thing to be old.  It’s a better thing to die in a state of grace, to see God face to face.

Finally he said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”  What trust he had in God’s love for him.  We are to have that same trust.  I hope those are your last words as well.  “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”  St. Faustina writes in her diary, “O blood and water which gush forth from the heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us.  I trust in you.” 
 
His mercy is something, isn’t it?  It is everlasting.  It gives us purpose.  It gives us hope.  It gives us the surety that all is well because of God’s mercy.  That’s what we do here in this mass.  We celebrate that mercy. 

The prayer, in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, is:

We pray through Christ our Lord.

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