Just as a reminder this weekend we have two recent Popes were canonized, Saint John Paul II and Saint John XXIII. Both of these men of the church remind us that there is more we can do. I saw this quote from John XXIII the other day and found it inspiring.

“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”

This brought me back to Fr. Rolo reminding us if we have a relationship with Christ we should be joyful and enjoy life from last week. It also reminds me that there is always mercy to be shown for those things that may not go as planned.

In addition to the two popes being canonized this weekend we are also celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday which John Paul II instituted in 2000. He wanted us all to remember that no matter what we might be going through in Christ there is endless mercy, which the image we use from Saint Faustina shows. It shows that Christ died for our sins and washes us clean in baptism.

This mercy and forgiveness were two things that both of our newly minted Saints were trying to remind us of on a consistent basis. We always need to remember to be able to forgive not only others but also ourselves for our failures. We also need to be able to ask for forgiveness from others who we have wronged. John XXIII showed this by asking forgiveness for the church from the Jewish people who over the centuries some Christians had come to despise. At the same time he was asking for an ecumenism that was unheard of in wanting a dialog with not only the Jewish people but all Christians.

We hear this in Acts today when we are reminded that the apostles were to preach the Gospel to all people, not just the Jews or those who agreed with them. We are also reminded that even though we can all be judgmental at times, the final judge of everyone will be Jesus.               These statements were there to remind the apostles to show mercy and forgiveness to those who would end up persecuting them.

The one thing I remember most about Pope John Paul was his continual preaching and exhorting us all to be more merciful and compassionate. We can relate this to the reading from Peter today that;

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you

With his merciful heart God has given us the keys to eternal life and salvation. He did this because he knew we all need to be shown mercy and forgiveness. Saint Faustina who had the vision of Christ used for Divine Mercy saw this in her vision of Christ. She believed in the mercy of Christ and continued to discuss it, reminding us all the mercy from the Divine is unlimited. This type of mercy is only available to us because of Gods unending ability to forgive us for our sins. All we need to do is ask and that mercy, compassion and forgiveness is freely distributed. We do need to ask with a sincerity of heart that Jesus will know we have.

Now since God has an unlimited capacity to forgive and show compassion, we are also expected to show the same capacity to forgive and show compassion. While we are all pretty good at doing this within our friends and family, I know I can suffer from a lack of compassion for those that I dislike. It seems to be a prevalent attitude in today’s society as well since we hear all the time that two sides cannot come together. Whether it is the political debate in Washington, where everyone tries to talk over one another not listen to what they are saying. We all need to remember that as John XXIII has said that “We were all made in God’s image, and thus, we are all Godly alike”. This statement reminds us regardless of whether we agree with our opponents’ position we need to remember to treat them all with compassion and mercy when we talk with them.

For some of us this comes easy as it seemed to for both of these Popes. We do need to remember though that there is one person we need to remember to forgive for our transgressions before we can truly be repentant and that is ourselves. We tend to be harder on ourselves than we are on others when it comes to criticism and unrepentance. This is a good thing in that it reminds us that we need to seek forgiveness from others, but we also need to remember to seek forgiveness from ourselves. It is not ok to sin, but it is human and we need to remind ourselves to ask for forgiveness. We hear about this today when Jesus tells his disciples whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained.

This call to forgive was given to the disciples to pass on through the sacrament of confession, which I hope all of you participate in as it is a wonderful sacrament of healing and compassion. Jesus also bequeathed to them the Holy Spirit and passes that on to all of us through the sacraments in which we participate within the church. We cannot remain the doubting like Thomas did in the Gospel today until we get to see Jesus, by then it may be too late.

A quote from John Paul II takes on new meaning should we be able to forgive and seek forgiveness.

“Christ, make me become and remain the servant of your unique power, the servant of your sweet power, the servant of your power that knows no eventide. Make me be a servant. Indeed, the servant of your servants.”

If we can remember this quote and seek the mercy and forgiveness of Christ we will be able to be wonderful servants of Christ to his people. If we can continue to show our mercy and forgiveness not only to our friends and family, but also to those we dislike we can move the discussion on. These discussions will then become more open, honest and fruitful. We can all do this through the help of the Holy Spirit and prayer, and if we begin from a stance of mercy and forgiveness we can accomplish a great many things. Are we ready to show that mercy and forgiveness to all those around us? If we are not, which I know I struggle with, are we willing to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us through the mercy of God to that point?

As one last reminder Pope Francis tweeted on Friday “We must not let ourselves fall into the vortex of pessimism. Faith can move mountains!”