Feast of The Divine Mercy - April 23, 2006 - EWTN Program Listing

EWTN ^ | April 22, 2006

[GirlShortstop]

Myself, I think that Christ's Divine Mercy is a cause for great joy.

Absolutely!   Methinks ignorance or sinfulness would keep one from seeing it otherwise.   Cardinal Rigali gave a beautiful homily about Divine Mercy's perfect compliment to the celebration of the second Sunday of Easter.  Think of how the sinful and cowardly Apostles were huddled in the locked room -- and Jesus' first words: "Peace be with you" -- His Mercy [shown them] *is* His Love -- the Love of Our Victorious Redeemer!  He didn't lecture, or admonish, He showed His Mercy.   Joy, indeed.   Pax et bonum.

[Pyro7480]

Jesus' death on the cross was not sorrowful, it was the veiled victory completed on the third day.

He definitely experienced sorrow during his last hours on earth.

Then Jesus came with them into a country place which is called Gethsemani; and he said to his disciples: Sit you here, till I go yonder and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me.
-Matthew 26: 36-38

[pravknight]

I am approaching the mystery of the Passion from a patristic sense that views it not in a personal sense, but from a broader perspective.

My main opposition to this "Divine Mercy" is that it distracts, in my opinion, from the focus on the resurrection.

I would have far less of a problem with it, if it were an extra-liturgical devotion during Holy Week or during Lent when the focus is upon Christ's passion.

On Pascha and for 40 days afterward Christ walked among us in a testimony of his victory over the Cross. Focusing on the the crucifixion during the season of the resurrection is misplaced, and I stand by that.

If the Divine Mercy celebrated the joy of the resurrection, I would probably have less of a problem with it.

I still pray that a future pope will do what many previous popes have done with certain feasts, suppress it or translate it to another Sunday.