Now is the Time

I reviewed the book: The Second Greatest Story Ever Told.  You can read that review again on this blog.  It is MOST important that you do, for now is the time.

I am secluded in my home, keeping away from contacts with others which might infect me with the virus, because I am often in contact with frail seniors, as I was today when I delivered them groceries.  Alone at home, I decided to reach on my bookshelf for an old book and re-read, so I would not waste time.  And I happened to pick up The Second Greatest Story Ever Told --- or perhaps God put it in my hands.

This is a book which speaks of today, of these days.  This is a time of Mercy.  I have the Divine Mercy image posted in the windows at the front and back of my house (I think I wrote of a link to print that image).  I pray daily for God’s mercy on our country, and on the whole world. 

I read of so many sad, so many bad things going on in the world, things caused by man, and even celebrated by man as being good.  And the number of virus cases reaches a new record every day.  I read how someone wrote an Op Ed article in the New York Times and was fired, after much of the staff walked out in protest.  When told that the Op Ed piece is just another viewpoint, they responded that there IS NO other view than theirs, and so the writer was fired.  This is just another sad example of where we are in the world.

And so, I pray for God’s mercy, as the Catholic Church said we should pray when it instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy in 2000, on the Sunday after Easter.  In 2015 Pope Francis declared a Year of prayer for Divine Mercy.  And here we are, desperately in need of Divine Mercy.  And, as the book so notes, we also need what goes with that prayer:  Trust.  My Jesus, I trust in You.

The Second Greatest Story Ever Told describes the critical role Poland played in European history, saving Western Civilization more than once.  Then came Jesus’ appearance to a little Polish nun, and the election of a Polish pope, both focused on the importance of praying for God’s mercy.  Pope John Paul II died on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, after having heard the Vigil Mass, and received Communion.  He never gave the final sermon he had written, but it was later read aloud.

“As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the Risen Lord offers His love that pardons, reconciles, and reopens hearts to love.  It is love that converts hearts and gives peace.  How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy.

Lord, … we believe in You and confidently repeat to you today: Jesus I trust in You, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”