God’s mercy and truth
April 28, 2023 - Friday, Third Week of Easter
Psalm 117:1bc, 2
Psalm 117 is the shortest in the Psalter and invites all the nations to praise the Lord. In the Hebrew text, the reason for this praise is God’s steadfast love and faithfulness rooted in God’s declaration of being “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6). But, the Ancient Greek text rendered these two words as “mercy” and “truth”: “For strong is His mercy over us; and the truth of the Lord endures forever” (Ps 117:2 LXX).
John the Baptist and Jesus grew and became strong with the passing years (see Luke 1:80; 2:40), we need to grow strong in our faith and be strengthened by God’s grace (see 1 Cor 16:13; Eph 3:16) but God’s mercy is strong to prevail over our sins. Saint Paul wrote that “but God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-6). It is for this mercy that the Gentiles who came to faith in Christ should glorify God (see Rom 15:9).
The twentieth century was marked by one of the most shocking pieces of evidence of human sinfulness in history. The two world wars and atheistic ideologies are responsible for the death of millions of people. When we add the local wars and conflicts, the growing gap between the rich and poor nations, and the state-sponsored abortion, the number of victims is mind-boggling. The apparition of our Lady in Fatima warned us that if we did not repent horrible things would happen. We did not repent and so it happened.
And yet, this horrific century is also marked by the message of Jesus to a Polish nun, Saint Faustina about God’s mercy. Her diary begins with this poem:
“O, Eternal Love, You order your Holy Image to be painted,
and You reveal to us the incomprehensible fountain of mercy,
You are blessing whoever approaches these rays
and the black soul shall turn into snow”.
We cannot undo the past and the future can be frightening knowing that twenty-first-century man is capable of destroying the earth. But, the present is in our hands and we can turn to God for help. If the first Christians were able to win the Roman Empire for Christ in three centuries, we can win our world for Christ as well. They did it because they trusted in God’s mercy and held on to God’s truth. Nothing prevents us from emulating them. Let the following words of St. Faustina put us on this journey of faith renewing our trust in God and our commitment to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and people:
“And so, trusting in Your mercy,
I walk through life like a little child,
and I offer You every day in sacrifice my heart
kindled with love for your greater glory”.