April 12, 2026 ~ Divine Mercy Sunday ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection

April 12, 2026 ~ Divine Mercy Sunday ~ Year A (pdf)

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Jn 20:26

There is no true holiness without humility, without descent into the heart of our poverty. If we do not want to descend and accept being humiliated with the humiliated Christ, then God will withdraw himself and will look along the fences searching for the poor to make saints of them. 

Considering the absolute necessity of humility and the danger of spiritual pride, Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., says: “God will allow certain souls, who think themselves advanced in spiritual life, to fall into mortal sin to detach them from the attachment they have to their virtue." 

God does not see things as we do. He sees further than we do. He hopes more than we do. M. Van Der Meersch asserts again: 

In this reprobate, this adulterer, this homosexual – yes, let us speak with audacity – there is enough to make a saint, even if it is too late for him to be other than inferior. Everyone can aspire to holiness from where he is, from his most squalid state. 

God can descend into the mud to transform someone into a saint. 

Everything can become grace, “even sin,” said Saint Augustine and, we would like to add, even our wounded sexuality and our neuroses, provided they become an occasion for openness, welcome, and sharing. Then we would be wrong to disregard them. Yes, we need to learn to make good use of our neuroses; they are material for holiness. 

Imagine the Lord presenting himself as a rag picker. He picks up our garbage, our repulsions, our leftovers, and transforms them into newness. Imagine the Lord as a gardener picking some flowers that grow here and there. He may find some on top of the manure that are as beautiful and which smell as good as in great air-conditioned living rooms. Imagine the Lord as a gardener who knows that some flowers will grow better on porches, in the shade, in humidity, in a ditch rather than in full sun. Often these flowers are more deeply rooted, to the annoyance of those growing in the sun. Anyway, is it not through grace that some flowers grow in the sun?. . .

In the Gospel, there is a disconcerting pedagogy. God does not reveal himself to the strong and intelligent, but to the weak and fragile; not to the virtuous and Pharisees, but to the tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners; not to the powerful of this world, but to helpless children. 

“The more a glass is empty, the more liquid can be poured in,” Marthe Robin has said: “The more empty a soul is, the more Jesus favors it with his gifts.”

André Daigneault, The Way of Imperfection, pp.9-11 

Reference from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 

545 Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." 258 He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents". 259 The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life "for the forgiveness of sins". 260 

589 Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God's own attitude toward them. 367 He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet. 368 But it was most especially by forgiving sins that Jesus placed the religious authorities of Israel on the horns of a dilemma. Were they not entitled to demand in consternation, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 369 By forgiving sins Jesus either is blaspheming as a man who made himself God's equal, or is speaking the truth and his person really does make present and reveal God's name. 370 

1829 The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy. . .

Questions for Reflection

1.        How do I understand spiritual pride? Reflect on what situations spiritual pride has caused me to judge others?
2.        How do I see God’s mercy as good news for me and my loved ones?
3.        Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for me…What can I ask of Mary, Mother of Mercy, today? 

Prayer after Sharing

Thank you God for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.