He Is Risen, Alleluia!!!

My Dear Parishioners,

He Is Risen, Alleluia!!! As we continue our celebration of the historical fact of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Flesh, I would like to take a moment to thank all of those who, in any way, contributed to making our Holy Week observances so reverent and our Easter celebrations so joyful. May the Good Lord richly reward you for the time and talent that you gave for His Glory and for the good of our Parish.

I would also like to thank everyone for your generosity to our Easter Collections. May you also be richly rewarded for your generosity to our beautiful Parish.

This week we continue our Easter Celebrations with the Second Sunday of Easter, also known to us as Divine Mercy Sunday.

It was to bestow His Mercy that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came into this would. As the Blessed Apostle St. Paul writes: We give thanks to God the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the Saints in light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1: 12-14).

Mercy is a virtue that flows from the Theological Virtue of Charity and is related to the Virtue of Justice. While Justice requires us to give one their due, Mercy requires us to go beyond that in helping someone in need. In other words, Mercy moves us, out of love, to “go that extra mile” for someone else, even for someone who isn’t necessarily deserving. It was Mercy that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ showed us all from His Holy Cross. As the Blessed Apostle St.

Peter teaches: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time (1Peter: 1: 3-5). The Blessed Apostle St. John adds: John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to Him be glory and power forever [and ever]. Amen (Revelation 1: 4-6).

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ showed us Mercy by dying for our sins so that we may have a share in His Resurrection and Eternal Life. How blessed we are to know Him and serve Him who has shown us so much Love and Mercy!

He now asks us, in love, to pay forward the Mercy that He has shown us. Every day we pray our Our Fathers, asking “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” We do so in answer to a Divine Command: Blessed are the Merciful, for they will be shown Mercy (Matthew 5: 7). We do so also at the counsel of St. John: Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might have life through Him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another (1John 4: 7-11). Being Merciful is transformative, especially when it involves someone who is less than deserving. It is transformative, because as we are being merciful, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is penetrating the deepest regions of our hearts, regions where maybe hurt and anger and resentment reside. Then, He who is Love, is replacing the hurt and anger and resentment with Love. Thus, through exercising Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s gift of Mercy, we are allowing Him to transform ourselves more and more into His Likeness. We moreover not only secure our place among the Saints, but we secure a higher place among the Saints.

We can do this. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died so that we can do this. He gives us the Grace in the Sacraments so that we can do this. The Angels and the Saints are guiding us and praying for us to do this. All we have to do is open our own hearts, and Mercy will flow.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, and our Patron, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J. Pawelko, Pastor