All The Ways Of The Lord Are Mercy – Divine Mercy Sunday – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; April 7, 2024

All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth. (Ps 25[24]:10)

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, so our theme is the mercy of God, but these days we must always remember that mercy cannot be separated from truth. That means, on one hand, that divine mercy belongs to reality, it is no mere illusion, nor is it mere wishful thinking, nor is it a human fantasy. On the other hand, because divine mercy is inseparable from truth, as a consequence truth, the truth of repentance and confession, is required to receive God’s mercy.

That said, let us now focus on the mercy of God, in light of the words of the Psalmist – all the ways of the Lord are mercy. First, let us distinguish mercy from “empathy”. Empathy might lead a person to show mercy or to act in a merciful fashion, but mercy itself is more a matter of action; mercy alleviates misery; indeed, mercy alleviates misery that does not deserve to be alleviated.

Now all the ways of the Lord are can be summed up by the ways of creation, the ways of redemption, and the ways of sanctification, leading to the glory of eternal life.

By extension we can speak of the work of creation as God’s first way of mercy.

What does not exist is not properly speaking miserable, but when God calls into existence the things that do not exist, (Rm 4:17) he bestows on them an unmerited gift, an unmerited good. If we consider mere “nothingness” as a sort of misery, then God created the universe as an act of mercy. This first mercy is the foundation of all his gifts; it is important for us to keep firmly in mind, that in the last analysis, everything we are and everything we have is a pure, undeserved gift of God.

Even had we not sinned, we would be continually dependent on God’s mercy to keep us from falling into sin and to keep us from turning back to nothingness. Indeed, the choice of sin, is a choice for death and for nothingness.

The devil, in rebelling against God the Creator, chose, insofar as it was in his power, not to be, rather than to be subject to God; it was a sort of spiritual suicide. Yet, God sustains the devil in existence, despite himself, because God will not destroy that which he has made. That is also why hell is eternal. The mercy of God, though, extends even to hell because existence is itself a good and because none of those who have rejected God’s mercy are punished to the full extent they deserve. It is good that the damned exist; their misery is by their own choice, because they rejected God’s mercy.

As for us, when we sin, we are often like someone who is tricked by the glitter of fool’s gold. We think that our choice against the law of God will bring us some sort of happiness, some sort of growth, maturity, or independence even, but in the end what we find is emptiness. Then, at other times, we know that the sin will not bring happiness, but in our misery we give way to our weakness, our own innate tendency to fall back to the nothingness from which we were made.

That leads us to the second way of God’s mercy, the way of redemption from sin. This is the mercy of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, the sin of Adam, and the actual sins of all who turn to him in faith and sincere repentance. The Blood and Water from his wounded side is both the witness and fountain of mercy. He retains the marks of those wounds as a perpetual offering to God and as a perpetual witness of mercy to us.

How great is this mercy?

On Pentecost, a mere fifty days after the Crucifixion, St. Peter, who playing the coward had denied Jesus three times and then been forgiven and made a triple profession of humble love, preached to the crowds, Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36) No doubt, among that crowd were those who had indeed cried out on Good Friday, Crucify him! Crucify him!

St. Peter, who knew the mercy of God, accused them but did not condemn them. Rather, when asked by them what they were to do he replied, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) Among those who on Good Friday cried for Jesus to be crucified and who on Pentecost heard the preaching of St. Peter, were some who believed, repented, were baptized, had their sins forgiven, the very sin of the crucifixion of Christ, and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and were transformed into living temples of God.

Then there is St. Paul, who consented to the killing of St. Stephen by holding the coats of those who stoned him, who persecuted the Christians to death, to whom Jesus himself appeared on the road to Damascus, who repented, was baptized, and transformed into the great Apostle of the nations. Late in his life he wrote to St. Timothy, The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Tim 1:15-16)

But what about those who having been baptized fall back into the way of sin?

Well, when St. Peter denied knowing Jesus, after he had been baptized, after living with him for three years, after having heard his teaching and witnessed his miracles, he also heard the words spoken to him by Jesus in today’s Gospel: Peace be with you.

He too received the mercy of God that he might become the minister of God‘s mercy. Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them. This was the institution by Christ of the sacrament of Penance, which applies to sins committed after baptism. Here he gave to his Apostles and through them to their successors, the bishops, and the priests who collaborate in their ministry, the power to forgive sins in his name.

If Jesus could forgive Peter, who had lived with him in such intimate friendship, he will surely forgive those who, though baptized, sin rather out of ignorance. On the Cross, Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Lk 23:34)

In the world today there about 1.3 billion Catholics – I assume that means those who have been baptized into the Catholic Church. I would suppose that the majority are poorly instructed in the faith; yes, they commit sins, grievous sins, but their ignorance is also great. From the ignorant to St. Peter, there is nothing that Christ will not forgive the repentant sinner.

Yet, the mercy of God does not rest content with merely forgiving sins. There is also the third way of God’s mercy, the great mercy of sanctification. Indeed, on Pentecost, those who repented of crucifying Christ, who were baptized, who had their sins forgiven, also received the gift of the Holy Spirit, to transform their lives in grace.

St. Paul, that great witness of God’s mercy, writes, All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him. (Rm 8:14-17)

The Holy Spirit frees us from the fear of death and slavery to sin, makes us to be children of God in Christ, leads us on the path of the practice of virtue and of suffering in union with Christ, that we might at last share in the glory of eternal life with him.

And St. John writes, Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. (1 Jn 3:2) The goal of the sanctification of the children of God is that we might truly conformed to the image of Christ, the Son of God, the holy one of God, that he might be the first-born of many brethren. (Cf. Rm 8:29) This brings to fulfilment the command of the Old Testament, Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Lev 19:2)

So St. John adds, Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 Jn 3:3)

And St. Paul: Through Christ we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us. (Rm 5:2-5)

Yet perhaps many grow discouraged because they keep falling back into sin; they go to confession and it seems always to be the same thing, over and over.

Fr. Michael Gaitley wrote, summing up the little way of St. Therese of Lisieux: “(1) Recognize the darkness: Recognize the darkness of our littleness and brokenness. (2) Keep trying: Keep trying to grow in holiness and do little things with great love. (3) Keep trusting: Keep trusting and believing that God will satisfy our desires for holiness, even if we don’t yet fully understand how.” (33 Days to Merciful Love) And St. Paul: This is God’s will your sanctification. (1 Th 4:3)

Finally, faith lies at the root of our sanctification. God’s mercy knows no bounds, but alas our faith is often weak and timid. We need to pray like the man in the Gospel, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. (Mk 9:24) We need to learn the lesson of St. Thomas and hear Jesus’ own words, as he showed him the nail marks in his hands and the wound in his side, Do not be unbelieving but believe.

Do not believe any old thing but believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Rm 4:25) This is the faith that conquers the world, overcomes every obstacle, does not give way to discouragement, and wins eternal life.

Yes, His mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. (Lk 1:50) Queen and Mother of Mercy, pray for us!