God’s generosity and mercy

An Easter surprise moment happened to me when I had a counseling with a 93-year-old widow last month. She said she dreamed that her deceased husband had a child out of wedlock, and this bothered her. I thought she would pour out her hurts and anger. To my surprise, she told me that she would like to find this child and somehow give also some help or inheritance from his husband. What a generous and merciful woman!

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. More and more, I realize that beyond divine justice and divine love, there is divine mercy. Justice is getting what we deserve. Love is getting what we don’t deserve. Mercy is getting something, whether deserved or not. In all our dealings, may we constantly go beyond justice, and beyond love and move on to mercy, and there, find God. May our constant earnest prayer be “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

In today’s Gospel (John 20:19-31), we hear of the disciples getting stronger in their belief in the Resurrection. Their doubts and fears gradually gave way to commitment and courage. Whatever turbulence they were going through as individuals and as a group was calmed down by Christ’s assuring words: “Peace be with you.” Are you going through any problem, difficulty, fear or trial right now? Let Christ tell you again, “Peace be with you.”

As it were, the Lord does not want us to wallow and stagnate in our personal miseries and misfortunes. The antidote to stagnation is mission. We have to see the “big picture” and not be caught up with our little screens. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Remember, wherever you are, you are there, and God is there! In everything, in anything that happens in our lives, there is a reason, and there is a mission. Instead of stagnating on the question “Why,” move on with the question “Where.” It is mission that leads us out of our miseries and prisons.

Allow me to share an “Easter Sunday moment” with you. After a long, hard week, I treated myself with a big bowl of hot chicken mami. Talk of comfort food! When it was time to pay, I found out that I had no money in my wallet. What to do? Leave my watch in the restaurant while I went to get money, or make a promissory note? Just then, the waiter walked up to me and said: “Sir, the family over there had already paid for you.” I walked up to Jo and Mike and their son Miguel, and told them of my predicament, and praised the Risen Lord with them for making Himself so real to me that Easter day; and for the family too, especially for Jo whom I was able to bless before she checked into a hospital that afternoon for her myoma surgery the next day. Yes, our God is risen. He is alive. He is with us, and He is a God of surprises!

“Jesus, I trust in you.” May we learn early enough that our achievements and plans come to nothing without God’s grace and approval. It is consoling, too, that our sins and mistakes are small compared to His unconditional mercy and love. Yes, the sooner we realize, and the sooner we live in God’s mercy, the better for all of us. Are you still living and pursuing your personal glory, or have you already surrendered to God’s will and mercy?

We will have a peaceful and meaningful life if we hold on to the Divine Will (“Lord, thy will be done!”); and if we trust in the Divine Mercy (“Jesus, I trust in You!”) God is good, loving, generous, and merciful. Amen!

I have said it before, and I say it again, that it is better to be presumptuous of God’s love than to doubt God’s love. God’s love is greater than we can ever imagine. I also hold on to the promise of the Divine Mercy so that our sins are but like a drop of water in the ocean of God’s mercy! We owe God everything; He owes us nothing; we are His unworthy, but very loved servants. Thank you, Lord, for your tremendous and fascinating love! Amen!

May God be merciful on our world, our one and only world so broken by wars and violence, this world He loved so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son. Yes, may the Lord be merciful upon us all. Through it all, may we never lose hope, nor be dismayed by trials, but rather, be filled with confidence of God’s unconditional love.