Deacon John Writes

Deacon John Writes:

This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday and the readings for this Sunday are about God’s Divine Mercy given to us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our need for trusting faith, and our need for the forgiveness of our sins. The opening prayer for today’s Mass addresses the Father as “God of everlasting Mercy.” 

There is a short story in Reader’s Digest told by Jim Williams of Montana, who wrote: “I was driving too fast late one night when I saw the flashing lights of a police car in my rear-view mirror. As I pulled over and rolled down my window of my station wagon, I tried to dream up an excuse for my haste. But when the patrolman reached the car, he said nothing. Instead, he merely shined his flashlight in my face, then on my seven-month-old in his car seat, then on our three other children, who were asleep, and lastly on the two dogs in the very back of the car. Returning the beam of light to my face, he then uttered the only words of the encounter. ‘Son,’ he said, ‘you can’t afford a ticket. Slow down.’ And with that, he returned to his car and drove away.” Sometimes mercy triumphs over law. So it is for sinners who call out to Jesus.”