“Receive the
joy of your glory, giving thanks to God, who has called you into the heavenly
kingdom, alleluia.”
- Entrance
Antiphons for Divine Mercy Sunday
Today ends
the Easter Octave and is also the day upon which the Neophytes are no longer
exteriorly distinguished from the rest of the Faithful, for they would
traditionally take off their white robes today. Therefore, it goes by the names of Low Sunday, in reference to the ending of the Octave, and Whitsunday, in reference to the taking off of the white robes. However, since the year 2000, it has also gone principally by the name of Divine Mercy Sunday, thanks to Pope St. John Paul II, and especially due to the labors of St. Maria Faustina Kowlaska.
Due to all of the names for this day, we are certainly not without material to meditate on. Additionally, this is the one year anniversary of the feast day of the canonizations of Popes St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, and we are about to enter into the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis.
Nonetheless, as is our custom this year, we shall take as the center of our meditations the Entrance Antiphons, and we shall tie in all these other considerations as appropriate and necessary for our enlightenment.
Let us consider that one week ago, the Neophytes were among the Faithful receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord at Mass. By tradition (which is hardly to be found nowadays), they would have been separated from the rest of the assembly by their stainless white robes, as an exterior manifestation of their inner purity of soul. They were a reminder to us of our own Baptism and the purity our own soul possessed after that most important event of our lives. Nonetheless, today their separation ends; there is no longer anything to distinguish them from the rest of the Faithful, nor should there be, for they are fully initiated into the Church Militant!
Nevertheless, although the Neophytes have been made full members of the Church, they may still be viewed as infants, hence the name Neophytes. They will bear this name for the next year, especially through the Easter Season. There is something we must learn from them, however, and it is how to live as a new member in the Lord.
There is no coincidence the first Entrance Antiphon refers to us as "Like newborn infants," for the love, wonder, and willingness and perseverance in learning are all attributes of an infant and also attributes every Christian must have. We may see these qualities especially in the Neophytes, for they have just been cleansed of all their sins and for the first time been initiated into the Mysteries. Oh how great must be their love and wonder at such Providence working in their souls!
We, who are so used to the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, may run the risk of being complacent and viewing these two Sacraments as a routine. While they should be part of our spiritual routine, we must always be on our guard to prevent them from becoming routine! Each time we receive God's mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be as if we were receiving it for the first time, as if we were newly baptized and had just entered into God's life.
This is one of the features that is so amazing about this feast of the Divine Mercy, for it gives us the opportunity to experience the infinite mercy of God displayed in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. It was but a week ago that our hearts were meditating upon these events, and our hearts were moved to contrition and love. Yet as the conclusion to these two holy weeks of the year, Holy Week and the Easter Octave, we are presented with the Feast of the Divine Mercy. We are offered the opportunity to direct all of the graces we received and the resolutions we made over the past two weeks into leading a new Christian Life, but we can only start anew through God's mercy, wherein He makes us a new creation, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is this Divine Mercy that is, "the pure, spiritual milk," spoken of in the Entrance Antiphon, and which helps us, "grow to salvation." We have mentioned before, but it would benefit us to mention again, that within the Sacrament of Reconciliation, one of the dismissals is "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good," to which the penitent may reply either, "For his mercy endures forever," or "For his love endures for ever." Within the Heart of God, His love is His mercy and vice-versa. Thus, to be acquainted with God's grace is to know His infinite mercy.
St. Paul speaks of this when he says:
"God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation (Romans 5:8-11)."
If the grace and mercy of God are lavished in such measure upon those outside the Church, imagine the wonders that lie in store for the Faithful! For this cause the Neophytes rejoice; God has reconciled them to Himself! However, we are already told what the greatest grace we shall receive from the ocean of God's infinite mercy and love is, and it is that of the Beatific Vision in eternal life!
We were created for this, and when our race lost it through sin, God the Son restored us to it through the Paschal Mystery, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16)." As the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil proclaims, "O happy fault! O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!" As we are taught that God only allows evil to bring about a greater good, so it was with Original Sin. God allowed our race to fall, so that through the Incarnation He might show us the depth of His love!
And this leads us into the second of today's Entrance Antiphons, for at consideration of these thoughts, how can our hearts not overflow with joy and gladness? Through the Incarnation, not only have we been saved, but through Baptism and the holy Eucharist we have been given the means to be divinized. As St. Athanasius says, "God became man, so that man might become god." This, then, is the reason we must never allow our reception of Communion to become routine; the grace and mercy poured forth in one reception is enough to completely transform our souls into the perfect image of God. If we received the Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood perfectly, we would be taken from this world in joy and glory to behold the face of God in the eternal heavenly kingdom. There we would not cease to give Him unending thanks and adoration!
Yet there is another quality of an infant, which the Faithful must possess, and that is complete trust and dependence, for as the infant is completely trusting and dependent on its parents, so the Christian must be upon the Lord. Only in this way can we attain that blessed happiness which the Lord desires for us. We must constantly run to the founts of Jesus' mercy in the Sacraments, in the Liturgical Prayers of the Church, in the sacramentals the Church provides for us, and in the daily living of the Christian Life. Just as the child suckles at the breast of his/her mother, so we must be nourished by the milk the Church provides, for it has been given to Her to dispense God's mercy.
We read in the Gospel for today, the words of Jesus to His Apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven (John 20:22-23)." Let us never hesitate to run to the many abysses of mercy our merciful Father and Lord Jesus Christ have provided to the Church through the Holy Spirit. These alone are the fitting nourishment we need to not only preserve the integrity of the life we gained in Baptism, but to bring us into our final homeland where we shall for ever sing the glorious "Alleluia," which we have begun here below!
Due to all of the names for this day, we are certainly not without material to meditate on. Additionally, this is the one year anniversary of the feast day of the canonizations of Popes St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, and we are about to enter into the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis.
Nonetheless, as is our custom this year, we shall take as the center of our meditations the Entrance Antiphons, and we shall tie in all these other considerations as appropriate and necessary for our enlightenment.
Let us consider that one week ago, the Neophytes were among the Faithful receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord at Mass. By tradition (which is hardly to be found nowadays), they would have been separated from the rest of the assembly by their stainless white robes, as an exterior manifestation of their inner purity of soul. They were a reminder to us of our own Baptism and the purity our own soul possessed after that most important event of our lives. Nonetheless, today their separation ends; there is no longer anything to distinguish them from the rest of the Faithful, nor should there be, for they are fully initiated into the Church Militant!
Nevertheless, although the Neophytes have been made full members of the Church, they may still be viewed as infants, hence the name Neophytes. They will bear this name for the next year, especially through the Easter Season. There is something we must learn from them, however, and it is how to live as a new member in the Lord.
There is no coincidence the first Entrance Antiphon refers to us as "Like newborn infants," for the love, wonder, and willingness and perseverance in learning are all attributes of an infant and also attributes every Christian must have. We may see these qualities especially in the Neophytes, for they have just been cleansed of all their sins and for the first time been initiated into the Mysteries. Oh how great must be their love and wonder at such Providence working in their souls!
We, who are so used to the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, may run the risk of being complacent and viewing these two Sacraments as a routine. While they should be part of our spiritual routine, we must always be on our guard to prevent them from becoming routine! Each time we receive God's mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be as if we were receiving it for the first time, as if we were newly baptized and had just entered into God's life.
This is one of the features that is so amazing about this feast of the Divine Mercy, for it gives us the opportunity to experience the infinite mercy of God displayed in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. It was but a week ago that our hearts were meditating upon these events, and our hearts were moved to contrition and love. Yet as the conclusion to these two holy weeks of the year, Holy Week and the Easter Octave, we are presented with the Feast of the Divine Mercy. We are offered the opportunity to direct all of the graces we received and the resolutions we made over the past two weeks into leading a new Christian Life, but we can only start anew through God's mercy, wherein He makes us a new creation, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is this Divine Mercy that is, "the pure, spiritual milk," spoken of in the Entrance Antiphon, and which helps us, "grow to salvation." We have mentioned before, but it would benefit us to mention again, that within the Sacrament of Reconciliation, one of the dismissals is "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good," to which the penitent may reply either, "For his mercy endures forever," or "For his love endures for ever." Within the Heart of God, His love is His mercy and vice-versa. Thus, to be acquainted with God's grace is to know His infinite mercy.
St. Paul speaks of this when he says:
"God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation (Romans 5:8-11)."
If the grace and mercy of God are lavished in such measure upon those outside the Church, imagine the wonders that lie in store for the Faithful! For this cause the Neophytes rejoice; God has reconciled them to Himself! However, we are already told what the greatest grace we shall receive from the ocean of God's infinite mercy and love is, and it is that of the Beatific Vision in eternal life!
We were created for this, and when our race lost it through sin, God the Son restored us to it through the Paschal Mystery, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16)." As the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil proclaims, "O happy fault! O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!" As we are taught that God only allows evil to bring about a greater good, so it was with Original Sin. God allowed our race to fall, so that through the Incarnation He might show us the depth of His love!
And this leads us into the second of today's Entrance Antiphons, for at consideration of these thoughts, how can our hearts not overflow with joy and gladness? Through the Incarnation, not only have we been saved, but through Baptism and the holy Eucharist we have been given the means to be divinized. As St. Athanasius says, "God became man, so that man might become god." This, then, is the reason we must never allow our reception of Communion to become routine; the grace and mercy poured forth in one reception is enough to completely transform our souls into the perfect image of God. If we received the Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood perfectly, we would be taken from this world in joy and glory to behold the face of God in the eternal heavenly kingdom. There we would not cease to give Him unending thanks and adoration!
Yet there is another quality of an infant, which the Faithful must possess, and that is complete trust and dependence, for as the infant is completely trusting and dependent on its parents, so the Christian must be upon the Lord. Only in this way can we attain that blessed happiness which the Lord desires for us. We must constantly run to the founts of Jesus' mercy in the Sacraments, in the Liturgical Prayers of the Church, in the sacramentals the Church provides for us, and in the daily living of the Christian Life. Just as the child suckles at the breast of his/her mother, so we must be nourished by the milk the Church provides, for it has been given to Her to dispense God's mercy.
We read in the Gospel for today, the words of Jesus to His Apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven (John 20:22-23)." Let us never hesitate to run to the many abysses of mercy our merciful Father and Lord Jesus Christ have provided to the Church through the Holy Spirit. These alone are the fitting nourishment we need to not only preserve the integrity of the life we gained in Baptism, but to bring us into our final homeland where we shall for ever sing the glorious "Alleluia," which we have begun here below!
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