Winning the World With Mercy

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, April 7th, 2024:
Divine Mercy Sunday

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1 John
5.1-6

​Beloved: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

The Lord is risen, Alleluia! Our merciful Lord is risen as He said, Alleluia! 

Today hits home for me in a deep way, as the Second Sunday of Easter does every single year. Not only do we continue the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but ever since Saint John Paul II instituted today’s feast, we also get to remember the Lord’s Divine Mercy. Saint Faustina’s diary (or a simple Google search!) will be able to tell you more about the origins of this feast day and the image associated with it, but in this reflection I’d like to tie it together with this second reading, from Saint John. The themes of this short passage include faith, obedience, parents and children, God’s love, and the Spirit as the truth. How do all of these fit together with the theme of mercy? 

Down the highway and across the border in Saint John, NB, there sits a little private school called Divine Mercy Catholic School. Every morning all 125+ students gather with their teachers in front of the Blessed Sacrament in their school’s chapel, where a large Divine Mercy image is displayed next to the tabernacle. The kids are steeped in the teachings of mercy and God’s love for them every day, and from there they go forth to their classrooms for the day. After watching this school for over twenty years, I can say there is power that comes from this time of prayer every day. Countless students, parents, and volunteers have been brought into the Catholic Church or have returned in a deeper way to their faith. While of course no place on Earth is a perfect reflection of heaven, this little school does offer a haven to many students who have been bullied severely in other schools, and they believe it’s the central focus on God’s mercy that has allowed so many of these little ones to feel safe in their community, to bloom, heal, and go on to so many great things. 

Now I’m not on commission here to promote the school! But with all this talk of mercy, love, and obedience, it seems like a fitting image of how all of this can work together. Saint John the Apostle says that to love God is to obey His commandments, and that our faith, which is born of God, conquers the world. Imagine little communities of Christ’s followers – a school, parish, fellowship group, or team – that take this mandate seriously… Imagine the power of leaning into God’s mercy while we encounter one another, listen to each other’s life stories, and seek to live in obedience to God’s Word and trust continually in His plan. Wouldn’t this result in something humble and yet powerful? In your own little corner of the world, wherever you find yourself, may God’s mercy bring about this conversion of your heart and this conquering the world!




​Sister Angela Burnham

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