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A message from your pastor, Fr. Brian DudzinskiDay 28 (April 18, 2020) of the coronavirus “ban”:“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” – Lk. 12:34 Happy and Holy Octave of Easter! Yes, it is the 7th day of the Octave! Oh my goodness, I am still so excited about Easter; how about you? Does it feel like Easter? Well, whatever it feels like, happy and blessed Easter to all of you!Tomorrow we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday! This is one of my all-time favorite feast days! Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina Kowalska and asked her to be the secretary of His mercy. Why do you think He asked her to do that? Well, I am glad you asked! You see, we talk about God’s mercy, we read about His mercy, we are taught about His mercy, yet Jesus tells us not very many people are seeking His mercy. Not only are people not seeking His mercy, but they do not appreciate it either. Since people are not seeking His mercy many souls are being lost. Jesus desires more for us! Jesus doesn’t want our souls to be lost. But you see, this is an interesting predicament. He won’t force us to accept His mercy, but He won’t deny it to us either. We know God offers us forgiveness; now, if only we will seek it. Free will is very important to God. It is important because without it, we would be incapable of love. God created us in love and wants us to be with Him for all eternity because of our love. St. Augustine reminds us that if we love God with all our hearts, we can do whatever we want. True love is concerned with the salvation of souls, in this case, our own. If we truly love God, we won’t do anything that would separate us from Him. Our love is our guide. There is, however, one major problem: we are weak, we are prone to sin, and without a clear focus and desire to do God’s will we will fall. God’s grace connected with this devotion is why this feast is so important. This feast day is appropriately titled “Divine Mercy” because it is all about God’s Divine Mercy. If we fall and seek forgiveness, God will not deny it to us. One of the most profound and generous things God revealed to Sr. Faustina was, “The greater the sin, the greater my mercy.” No sin is too great; no matter the times a person falls, God’s mercy will always be offered. That is how much God loves us! He really does love us so very much!Now, a little caveat to the generosity of God’s mercy is, be careful not to be presumptuous. Yes, God will always offer it. But our choices say a lot. They say what is important to us. When we continually choose for sin, we continuously desensitize ourselves to God’s love and our own love and we create a chasm between us and God. God isn’t moving away from us; we move away from Him. The further we get away from Him, the harder it is to seek His mercy. The antidote to this is frequent Confession, daily examination of conscience/act of contrition, and a good prayer life. If you are doing these things, you will never be far from His mercy. Obviously, we have the Eucharist and Mary, but Confession, examination/act of contrition, and prayer are a more direct focus on moral life.Divine Mercy Sunday is awesome! Jesus gave us an extra dose of hope with this Divine Mercy devotion. Please open your heart to all this devotion offers and stay close to a heart that loves you so very much, the Heart of Jesus!Peace, love and joy! Easter blessings to all of you! ................
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