Psalm Reflection: The Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy - Cycle C

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.” - Psalms 118

I grew up in a rural mountain town in the San Bernardino National Forest, so most of my memories as a child are of me playing outside with the other kids in our neighborhood. 

A staple of our childhood often revolved around building some type of fort or clubhouse. We would scout the neighborhood for a secluded place, and then find logs, sticks, and other materials in the woods to build a structure that was completely ours.

In the wintertime, we would build igloos and snow forts out of the massive berms the snow plow would make at the end of our street. And every winter season we attempted to build the most massive and elaborate snowman possible.

I have so many amazing memories of all the complicated forts and snowmen we made, but none of them lasted forever. The plants we used to complete the structures of our forts would wither and die. Storms would wash away our clubhouses or wild animals would take them over. Snowmen would melt and we would be back where we started.

As I was reflecting on these memories, I was reminded of these words from Saint Teresa of Calcutta:

“When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again." 

Nothing but God lasts forever. 

Everything we own will one day belong to someone else. 

Every achievement will not prevent us from dying one day.

Every earthly relationship we have in this life will end.

Only God is forever, and if we have God, we have everything we could possibly need. As the Psalmist reminds us this weekend, God’s love is everlasting. 

Even though we turn away from Him and reject Him when we sin,

even though our sins put Jesus on the cross,

even though we try and take the place of God in our lives,

God never stops loving us.

That is mercy. Mercy is when God gives us what we do not deserve. Due to our sin, we deserve eternal punishment and separation from God, but in His profound love for us, God established a way for us to return to Him by offering His life for us on the cross. That is what everlasting love looks like.

This Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, was designated as Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope Saint John Paul II in the year 2000. It is based on the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy that Saint Faustina Kowalska reported as part of her visions of Jesus. The Church desires for us to remember and reflect every single year on the profound gift of God’s mercy, and the everlasting consequences it has on our souls.

There is no sin that is unforgivable or irredeemable. God is capable of forgiving any and every offense we have ever and will ever commit, if only we come to Him with repentant hearts. His mercy is greater than our past, and His plans for our future are better than we could imagine.

I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by. - Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

God has the power to change your life. Will you give Him permission?

God’s mercy is available to everyone. Will you ask for it?

God's love is everlasting. Will you respond with love in return?

Only the Lord is forever. Stay close to Him, and you will experience forever with Him.

Of old you laid the earth’s foundations; the heavens are the work of your hands. They perish, but you remain; they all wear out like a garment; like clothing you change them and they are changed, but you are the same, your years have no end. - Psalms 102:26-18

I am praying for you, please pray for me and my family, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, April 27th, 2025, The Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy - Cycle C: Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24.