Homily
for April 15, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
2nd Sunday Of Easter
By Fr. John Carney Topic:
Divine Mercy
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“Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
That is
you. Blessed are you. Don’t take those words lightly. Several months
ago, a woman came to confession. Towards the end of the confession, she
told me her son needed to go to confession as well but that he wouldn’t
because he was afraid of me. I said, “Why? Was I harsh with him or did
I say something to offend him or what?” She said, “No. He doesn’t even
know you.” I said, “Then why is he afraid of me if he doesn’t even know
me? I mean, if he knows me, I hope he’s not afraid of me.” She said,
“Well, you know you’re the priest. You stand up there dressed in those
robes. You’re like God.” She didn’t know me either. In other words, he
was afraid of God who I represent as poorly as I do. He’s not alone.
There are a lot of people afraid of God. Today, I want to challenge you
and ask you the question, “Are you afraid of God?”
First of all, the question I think is, “What has God done to merit our
fear?” From The Reproaches on Good Friday, the beautiful words taken
from the sixth chapter of Micah, Jesus says, “My people, My people what
have I done to you, how have I offended you? Answer me!”
You might say fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It’s in the
Bible. That’s one of the proverbs. But what does that mean to have fear
of the Lord? If you go to your dictionary and look up “fear,” you
will find under the first meaning the sense that we usually understand
fear, “a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or
imminence of danger”. However, if you keep reading the definitions of
fear, the third or fourth one is, “extreme reverence or awe as toward a
supreme power.” That is the fear of the Lord and that is the beginning
of wisdom. Interestingly, children exhibit that fear of the Lord on a
regular basis. Children live their lives in awe of everything. They
have all these questions and they are amazed, aren’t they? And that’s
at the simplest things. Have you ever seen kids at the Grand Canyon?
WOW! That’s fear of the Lord. That’s awesome respect for the things of
God. I think many a family has gone to the Grand Canyon anticipating
their visit greatly and are overjoyed to go. They take their kids and
they look down there and their kids say. “Oh wow!” Then they look up at
Mom and Dad and say, “What are we going to do for the next four days?”
It’s true.
.
You know, God is aware that we are afraid of him. He doesn’t like it
one bit. That is why He sent us an apostle of mercy. Her name is Maria
Faustina Kowalska from Poland. She left us a diary and in the diary,
she recounts visits from Jesus. Now, you do not have to believe this
because it is not in the creed. You can be a good Catholic, not believe
in Lourdes’, or Fatima’s’ specifics of the visitations, but I believe.
I want to share with you some of Faustina’s observations or words that
she heard from Jesus. God not only sent us a Faustina, now known as St.
Faustina, He also sent us John Paul the Great. John Paul declared
several years ago that this second Sunday of Easter be the Feast of the
Divine Mercy. John Paul knew that people were afraid of God. He needed
to help teach them about the mercy of God.
In Faustina’s diaries, Jesus said, “Apostle of my mercy, proclaim to
the whole world my bottomless mercy. Let souls who are striving for
perfection particularly adore my mercy, because the abundance of graces
which I grant them flows from my mercy. I desire that these souls
distinguish themselves by boundless trust in my mercy.” This is
important. “The graces of my mercy are gone by means of one vessel
only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will
receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to me,
because I pour all the treasures of my graces into them. I rejoice that
they ask for much because it is my desire to give much, very much.”
The only vessel of His mercy is trust. “Jesus, I trust in you.” Do you
trust? Or asking the question another way: Are you filled with anxiety?
I think they’re opposites. The more you trust, the less anxious you
are. The more anxious you are, the less you trust. Then Jesus says
something elsewhere that is so important: “The greater the sinner, the
greater the right he has to my mercy.” We have a right to God’s mercy.
It’s part of our patrimony. It’s part of our legacy as children of God.
We have a right to God’s mercy. Sometimes, people come to Church and
they say, “You know we’d like to get married here. We don’t go to
Church. We don’t support the Church. Could we get married here?” And I
tell them, “Of course you could.” You have a right to the sacraments
regardless of your participation, of your laxity, or whatever. You have
a right to the sacraments.”
Someone once asked me, “Father, if I die…” which I liked the way he
proposed that. “Can I be buried in this parish, because I haven’t gone
to Church? I don’t support the Church. Can I be buried in the Church?”
Well, there’s only one requirement to be buried here. You have to be
dead. We have a right to the sacraments. We have a right to God’s
mercy. That’s the way He set up the deal. Now, our response is
important to God’s mercy. He says, “I demand from you deeds of mercy
which are to arise out of love for me not out of fear for me but out of
love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and
everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself
from it.” We must in turn be merciful.
You know we should never fear God. In fact, I say this and I think you
would agree. I think I speak here as the everyman. There’s only one
person I’m afraid of and that’s myself. I am the only person that can
separate myself from God. God cannot separate himself from me. He just
can’t. But I can turn my back on him. Paul knew this. Paul said, “The
good I wish to do, I do not do. The evil I wish to avoid, I do.” You
know what he was talking about. The battle of life, isn’t it true, is
within ourselves. It’s right in here. This is where the battle of life
is fought. The deciding to do good and to avoid evil on a daily basis.
If you fear anyone just fear yourself. Why do we fear God?
Let me ask a question for those who are blessed to have children,
mothers and fathers: How would you feel if your child told you that his
or her primary feeling towards you is that of fear? How would you feel?
How do you think God feels? I think you’d be devastated. When that
woman told me that her son was afraid of me, it hurt me and it hurts
God when we are afraid of him.
Fear only yourself. Never fear God. He’s your advocate. He’s your Lord.
He is your savior. He is on your side even when you’re not on your own
side.
"For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the
whole world."