Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

A Homily on The Divine Mercy 189 and the dispenser: the Holy Sacraments, especially that of Penance, and the culmination of Mercy, which is the Eucharist, along with prayer, always rooted in Sacred Scripture, Eucharistic devotions and the love and veneration of Mary, Mother of Mercy. It is important, however, to remember that from the encounter with God necessarily flows the encounter with your “neighbor” ; that is why Jesus Christ has taught us that we do not only receive Mercy, but that we are called to practice it with others (Ibid, no. 14). “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). The Church, when it announces the salvation o f God to man, when it prays for him, when it offers and communicates Divine Life through the Sacraments, when it orients his life through the commandments o f love o f God and of neighbor, lives, celebrates and practices Divine Mercy, and contributes thus to the enrichment o f man’s dignity, being the sign o f the transcendent character o f the human person, completing thus the man­ date o f love (cf. Centesimus Annus no. 55, Gaudium et Spes, no. 76). The new millennium is already at the door and the Holy Father tells us: “I t’s closeness has nourished in the hearts of many the hope o f a more just and united world. This is an aspiration that can, even more ‘must’ be realized” (World Journey o f Peace XXXII, 1999, no. 13). For this reason, we ought to make ourselves heralds o f the dignity of the human person and agents for the promotion o f their fundamental rights. An encounter with the Merciful God impels us to live in a con­ tinuous and authentic conversion and to understand that life encounters its center, meaning and plenitude only when it is given to the love and service of others (Evangelium Vitae, no. 50). Jesus told us that the beautiful image He has given as a gift to the world through Blessed Faustina must remind us o f the requirements of His Mercy, “Because even the strongest faith is o f no avail without works” {Diary, no. 742). Contemplating in that image the merciful love o f God, we ought, united with Christ, with Him and in Him, to be able to live an authentic merciful love that impels us to understand and to serve our brothers and