Mercy Sunday
Jesus, the Mercy Seat of God
Through Whom All Forgiveness Comes
Is
it possible to truly understand the fathomless love and mercy of our God
without first understanding His perfect justice?
Let
us recall how, with the sin of Adam, father of the human race, the consequent
curse of death fell upon all of us, bringing with it a vast distance and
alienation from the God Who had made us to be happy with Him forever. No longer could we walk with God amidst the
beauty of the enclosed garden of His paradise, nor keep
company with our Beloved Who had brought us forth out of the depth of
His own Heart. Not one of us (save Mary)
has escaped the condemnation which Perfect Justice totaled as the price of
sin. No mere creature could ever bridge
the abyss that sin erupted between the creature and the Creator. Sin against an infinite God demands
propitiation from an infinite person in return to balance the heavy scale of
divine justice, as perfect in God as is His mercy.
But
this God, so in love with the creatures born out of His Love, designed a way to
remain with them, though at a distance, veiled in a cloud or hidden in a pillar
of fire. He gathered His prodigal ones and bid them build a Tabernacle, a
meeting tent, to carry with them as they wandered through the desert of their now
barren lives, while He weaned them of their pagan diet and nourished them with the
milk and honey of Divine Providence. In
this Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies that housed the Ark of the Covenant in
which their sacred signs of His Presence were kept. There, on top of the Ark He had them carve a
lid of gold bearing two cherubim facing each other. That space between them and above those sacred
signs became His meeting place with His people, that Mercy Seat from which He
spoke to them and commanded them forward in His ways. Oh how they longed for that day of perfect
atonement when the veil would be lifted and the fire would burn more inside
their hearts at His Word than in the dark of their night. How they longed to see His Face! How they longed for that First Love! Is there any love like First Love, original
innocence?
“Felix culpa!” “Happy
fault!” that won for us so great a Redeemer!
Thus our Liturgy chants God’s praise, for He so loved the world He sent
His dearly Beloved Son into it to be Himself the propitiation for our sins, the
perfect sacrifice, the perfect atonement to satisfy the debt of divine justice
and to restore us to God’s favor. But this was a sacrifice to end all
sacrifice, not merely to pay our debt and reconcile us to our God, but one so magnanimous as to bestow on us sonship
into the very family of God, and with it, inheritance into His glory and all
that belongs to Him. No longer do we merely walk in God’s Presence but He quite
truly comes to live in us so we may even more truly live in Him.
Can
we fathom what kind of Love could fashion so grand a plan of redemption for us? Can we imagine a Father condemning His only Son
to the most vile and shameful death upon a cross by
the very creatures Whom He had made? What kind of love for His creatures would
prompt a Father to allow the very rage of hell and every despicable sin
committed from the beginning of time to the end of it to be laid upon the Body
of His dear Son to tear away at His sacred flesh and drain away His precious life until
not one drop of blood remained in Him? Can we poor creatures ever understand
the kind of filial love that moved that Son to kiss that ugly cross and
willingly be nailed to it as His Father willed? Who can imagine such love as to
forgive the wretched ones who crucified their Holy God? And to forgive all of us, for we, too, were there in our sins!
St.
Faustina’s Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, is pages upon pages long extolling the
incomprehensible mercy of our God Who aches to wash us clean of sin and all its
concupiscence and fill our souls with His pure Love. The greater our misery,
the greater our right to God’s mercy Jesus says. Why? Because He has already perfectly satisfied the
demand of divine justice for all sin and opened for us the gate of Heaven’s boundless mercy
to flood into our souls! Flood into our souls if they are open to receive it. It was for us poor sinners that He came to
die and He desires that not one of us should be lost to Him.
But--another Diary contemporary to Divine Mercy in My Soul, that of Our Lady of America® written by Sister
Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil, is far more brief and written in strikingly clear
and simple language that warns us that the boundless mercy of God is in great
tension today with His perfect justice over the enormity of this evil
generation’s sins and rejection of grace that cries out for judgment and
correction. Jesus Who suffered so much for us and in our place, comes as a
Beggar, a Beggar! looking for our love and we give Him
only the crumbs, crumbs of our affection and token obedience to the Father’s
will and ways that safeguard our salvation.
Jesus sends us His own Mother, hoping that a Mother’s heart might win a
plea for our repentance and reform of life.
Over and over Jesus and Mary both lament our refusal of this time of
mercy and of grace. Over and over they beg us to come to them to learn great
purity of heart, true repentance and reform of life. One must wonder! Can mercy last forever? We have fallen to new
depths of sin and alienation from the very One Who alone can save us, but Who cannot do so against our will. Free will is a wondrous and a terrible thing!
Though divine justice was satisfied once and for all in Jesus’ sacrifice, each
generation and each person must personally claim that justification by
accepting the grace of redemption Jesus has won for us, choosing to do the
Father’s will and to live in God’s Holy Spirit of Truth and Love. Saints
privileged to have visions of our dear Lord’s Passion tell us His greatest
agony was to see so many souls lost, especially souls of the chosen ones, in
spite of the terrible sufferings He endured for us. Let us meditate a while on Jesus’ own words!
I am a Beggar for love, but how few
give to Me the means by which to satisfy My divine
hunger. I hunger for the love of My own, and I receive only the crumbs no other would accept.
My Father is angry. If My children will
not listen to My Heart, which is a Voice of mercy and instruction, punishment
will come swiftly and no one shall be able to stay it. The pleadings of My Heart have held back the
divine justice about to descend on an ungrateful and sinful generation.
My
Heart beats with compassion for the sorrows of man. Oh, how gladly would I help him bear the weight
of his terrible cross, fashioned, for the most part, by his own guilt! But alas, he will have none of My help. So I am
forced to stand by the side of the road and watch him struggle hopelessly in
his agony….My Heart grieves over My children in the
world. Their hearts are being drawn
farther and farther away from Me. They will not even listen to My Mother,
because they have never been taught to listen.
Return, My
people, for My Heart hungers and thirsts for your love. If you will not return, the just anger of My
Father will descend upon you. What would
you—My love or My Father’s anger? Choose, and as you choose, so shall it be
done. I will not force your free will,
for that is yours to use as you desire.
O
man, what have I done to you that you should refuse My aid?...The
Voice of My Heart is the Voice of Mercy.
If man will not listen, there is no more I can do, for he ties My hands….My
little white dove, if the world is dying, it is because it will not let Me give
it life. I am the resurrection and the
life, and unless souls seek their life in Me, they
will find only death and destruction.
My
little white dove, do you know what I find most lacking in the world
today? It is FAITH. There are so few souls that believe in Me and My love. They
profess their belief and their love, but they do not live this belief. Their hearts are cold, for without faith
there can be no love.
(Diary,
Our Lady of America®, pgs. 4-7)
Let
us go now to the foot of Jesus’ cross on
My child, my dear
child, have you accepted my Son Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior yet?
Copyright © Sisters of the Indwelling Trinity, 2009.