God&#039;s Divine Mercy

Easter in my youth was a greatly anticipated Feast. Not only did we get to give up giving-up, but there were treats galore: Easter baskets well-hidden, candy from one Grandmother and a new white shirt from the other. Easter was also the day when we received new shoes, since no one would buy new shoes for a boy in the winter. My Dad disliked lamb, so Easter Dinner was ham, etc.

We attended school all through Holy Week, but it was wonderfully interrupted with visits to church for choir practice, Holy Thursday Mass and Good Friday devotions. Then there were Confessions. Those poor priests: hearing 800 Confessions in this busiest of weeks. The kids in public school had Holy Week off, nodding to the religious needs of pupils and families, back in the days before the government went Godless. We didn’t travel at Easter since one set of grandparents and most of our cousins lived within walking distance.

Easter Monday was a special day in our parish. Although we had Easter week off from school, we went to Mass on Monday morning where we were given and Easter egg from Monsignor. They were beautifully colored by the Nuns. Imagine coloring 800 eggs for children who would have preferred a chocolate bunny. Lunch that day, and for much of the Easter Octave consisted of egg salad sandwiches, in which Mom wisely helped us to use up those and other colored eggs.

But, what of Eastertide now? Since we live in a culture that is more into anticipation than lasting celebration, retailers and florists have already moved on to Mother’s Day. The Easter season continues liturgically for fifty days until Pentecost. Lilies and jelly beans will be long gone by then, so how will we maintain the joy of this season? By not considering spiritual joy to be too much like emotional joy. We’re not meant to maintain a party spirit, but instead are to keep the beauty and the quiet joy of the Easter story close to us: redemption won for us through the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, a recent addition to the Church’s liturgical calendar. It makes sense that it would come on the Octave of Easter, because God’s Divine Mercy is what Easter is all about. Our loving God does not want to hold us in our sins, especially having sent His Son for their reparation. His love for us will stack things in favor of overcoming our sins (the purpose of the Lenten season) and living with some measure of peace and joy in a State of Grace. So, while reveling in God’s gift of mercy, we don’t want to become presumptuous, but instead wish to live as people shriven and grateful for it, endeavoring to move beyond sin to strive for holiness, and joy. This is the joy that describes the Easter season.