SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
By Our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
I will begin by transcribing the end of the Gospel reading for this Sunday: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:30-31)
The story I am going to tell is already very well-known because I have told it so many times, but to speak about Divine Mercy this is the story I have witnessed. This story is about a man Anibal and his wife who have shared their story many times in person when they have been invited to give their testimony at youth retreats for example.
When I think of Anibal, even today, I think of a drunk person, a bum, without a stable house, someone with no values. Since I can remember I saw Anibal drunk on the streets, begging for money to keep drinking.
As many know for 9 years I sold ice cream and popsicles on the streets of my town and one place I used to sell a lot was on the corner where the brothel was. There I met many people, both the women who worked there and their clients, as well as those who were walking around drunk like Anibal.
Time went by and I went to seminary and during my vacation, I think 2 years into studying at seminary, I came back home to work. In front of a simple hours, of dirt floors and almost falling down, a woman came out and asked me for an ice cream and that she would pay me on Saturday when her husband had returned. I recognized the woman as one of those who had worked at the brothel. When I came closer to give her the ice cream I saw that inside her simple home that it was neat and clean with everything in its place. Her son was also very clean, with clean clothes and very well mannered. So I gave her an ice cream each day until Saturday. On Saturday a man’s voice called out to me, asked what he owed me for the week and his son’s ice cream for the day. When he paid me, I looked up to see who it was and to my surprise it was Anibal! The drunk was no longer drunk, he didn’t smell bad; he wasn’t asking for money he was paying me money; he wasn’t shabby anymore, his clothes were simple but clean. He paid me and I left, but in my mind I carried with me a huge surprise.
On Sunday I went to help at the 10am Mass in town and when I finished, after taking off my alb, I went outside of Church. Anibal stopped me and brought me to the center of the church, where the aisles of the church form a cross and he asked me: “You were surprised, weren’t you?” I just nodded yes. He pointed to the Crucifix that is on the main altar and said: “Only He (pointing), only He was capable of forgiving my sins, of transforming me and of filling me with his grace. He returned to me my dignity as a son of God. He gave me a family (he hugged his wife and son with tears in his eyes) and put me on my feet. Because no Catholic or Protestant was able to convince me. But Christ is the living mercy of God. The Virgin (pointing to Our Lady of Guadalupe) and the Eucharist have been where I have found the strength to continue my journey.” We were all crying by this point. Anibal, the drunk, was giving me the biggest lesson of all about divine mercy.
But I wanted to start with the final text of this Sunday’s Gospel because there are many things that have not been written, but that have happened in our lives that would not fit in an infinite number of books. Because today we know by great works of Jesus Christ that “the mercy of the Lord is eternal” and we can sing “Alleluia” because his love and mercy are one of a kind: they forgive, they wash away our sins, restore grace and increase faith. Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!