A Word From Your Pastor - April 7

Dear Parishioners:

Divine Mercy is God’s Gift of His Love renewed after it has been rejected. 

Shakespeare expresses the freedom of the gift of Mercy in his play, The Merchant of Venice:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. . . .,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

God’s Mercy is offered to us in a special way this Sunday, the Octave of Easter, and we are invited to contemplate how it can become a part of our lives ever more fully. 

We need to Ask for Mercy.  Pope Francis says God is always ready to give us Mercy, but at times we may tire of asking for it.  We can ask for Mercy for ourselves, our world and for those who are in Purgatory. 

We need to Be Merciful.  The Beatitudes tell us that those who are merciful will find Mercy for themselves as well.  God Who is our Just Judge is also the Merciful Father.  But what He gives us is meant to be passed on.  Mercy, to be Divine Mercy, must flow.  Forgive and it will be forgiven you.

We need to Completely Trust in the Mercy of God, relying not on ourselves but on God.  St. Therese of Lisieux and many other Saints remind us that we can have Confidence in God.  He is utterly trustworthy.

The Resurrection of Jesus shows us that God has the power to accomplish what He promises.  The Promises given concerning Divine Mercy are beyond our grasp.  And yet, they are ours, if we have hearts open to receive.  Let us live in awareness of the Mercy of God for ourselves and for the whole world.

 

Year of Faith October 11, 2012 – November 24, 2013

 We continue our journey through the Year of Faith.  As one way of observing this year, each week a small section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.  This is a small way of offering some food for growth in Faith throughout this year.

ARTICLE 2     THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

II. The Relationship Between Tradition and Sacred Scripture

One common source...

80 “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same goal.”  (Dei Verbum 9.) Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own “always, to the close of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20.)

...two distinct modes of transmission

81 “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.” (Dei Verbum 9.)

“And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound, and spread it abroad by their preaching.”  (Dei Verbum 9.)

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”  (Dei Verbum 9.)

Comment: The Church receives the Word of God, Jesus Christ, in the Fullness of His Person.  The same Church has the capacity to share Jesus with everyone through all ages.  Scripture and Tradition, in relationship to the Living Teaching Authority (the Magisterium) are the means by which Christ is shared individually and communally.  To receive Christ means to receive Him as He gives Himself to the Church.  How do you understand your own relationship to Jesus as He is revealed to you in and through the Church by way of Scripture and Tradition?