Practicing Divine Mercy

As Divine Mercy Sunday approaches, Monica Portogallo contemplates two Gospel stories about forgiveness.

I get some of my best insights during nighttime nursing sessions. I haven't quite figured out what it is—the quiet, the relaxing hormones, or something else—but God reveals more wisdom to me during these times than during the rest of the day combined. 

The other night during the baby's 2 am feeding, the prodigal son parable came into my head. It's one of my favorites, so I have contemplated it often. I figured there was nothing new for me to notice in it, but that night what jumped out at me was how the father forgave him.

The father didn't say “I told you so” or make the son acknowledge why what he did was wrong. He didn't even require a verbal apology, interrupting his son's planned apology to celebrate his return. The son merely returning to him was enough to lavish him with abundant forgiveness. 

Then my thoughts turned to the woman caught in adultery. Similarly, Jesus does not require an apology in order to impart His mercy to her. He sees her heart and her circumstances, and offers her forgiveness, only adding an admonition to not do it again. 

What struck me in both these passages is how little was required for the sinner to receive extravagant Divine mercy.

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In light of how gracious God is with His mercy, I am going to examine the ways I need to be more like God in my own forgiveness of others. #catholicmom

Practicing Divine Mercy 

This Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, is Divine Mercy Sunday. In light of this insight of how gracious God is with His mercy, I am going to examine the ways I need to be more like God in my own forgiveness of others: Do I require a perfectly-worded apology expressed with sufficient sorrow before I will consider letting go of the anger? Do I need to rub it in when someone admits their mistakes, revisiting their errors multiple times? 

This Divine Mercy Sunday, I am praying for the grace to be a little more like God in my mercy towards others, and that I may be more grateful for the mercy God has shown to me.

Copyright 2022 Monica Portogallo
Images: Judgefloro, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons