We recently celebrated “Divine Mercy Sunday.” What look like rays of light, red and blue, symbolize blood and water: Eucharist and Baptism. This image brings us back to the Cross. The image reminds us that we return to Calvary. As we say in the Divine Mercy Chaplet: “for the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” The lesson is clear: Divine Mercy comes to us through the Cross, through the water and blood that came from the side of Christ pierced, through the Sacraments. The preeminent Sacrament of Divine Mercy is Confession.
When the Prodigal Son came to his senses and went back to his father, confessed his sins, the father ran out to embrace him. God wants all of us to return to Him so that he can restore us as His sons and daughters. God wants to embrace repentant sinners with the same love of the father in the Prodigal Son.
In the confessional we encounter Jesus Christ through the instrumentation of the priest. When the priest speaks the words: “I absolve you from your sins,” the penitent can be assured that his or her sins are forgiven. The penitent can know that he or she has been restored to grace and to the love of Christ which we call charity. The Divine Mercy comes to us through the Cross and through the Confessional.
