Abbot Hugh Allan, O.Praem.

Apostolic Administrator of the Falkland Islands and Superior of the Ecclesiastical Mission to St. Helena, Tristan Da Cunha and Ascension Island

Divine Mercy Sunday 2021

 Dear friends in Christ, 

This Sunday, a week after the joy and wonder of Easter day, the Church now celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a beautiful devotion, so much loved by St John Paul II and he wanted the whole Church to benefit from this message of God’s mercy. 

During Lent this year, one of the books I tried to read again was “The Lord” by a remarkable man called Guardini. He says something wonderful about mercy: 

Justice is good. It is the foundation of existence. But there is something higher than justice, the bountiful widening of the heart to mercy. Justice is clear, but one step further and it becomes cold. Mercy is genuine, heartfelt; when backed by character, it warms and redeems. Justice regulates, orders existence; mercy creates. 

Most of us know the story, in St John’s Gospel, of Christ’s encounter with the woman caught in adultery. For St. Augustine, the woman embodies the entire human race. She has sinned. She has betrayed her God, her family, and the community to which she belongs. Brought before the religious authorities, she faces the severity of the Law, which allows for stoning. The men who stand in judgment of her seek to rid the community of sin by ridding it first of the sinner. Their interest is punishment, not penance. It is not the way of Christ. The way of Christ is mercy. 

Only Jesus can free us. Only he could have justly cast the first stone. But he did not, saying instead, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” 

Pope Benedict once said in a homily (quoting good old Guardini again), “before we can be just, we must learn to love.” When we seek justice without mercy, no matter how well-intentioned we are, we risk crushing others or being crushed ourselves. On its own, the human race cannot achieve true justice or show true mercy effectively. This can only be found in Jesus Christ and his abiding love. 

Sadly, mercy, like love from which it derives, is a virtue easily abused and at times deliberately misunderstood. Even in our daily routines, we are often tempted to use the language of mercy to dodge our responsibility to seek justice. We perhaps lie rather than bruise the feelings of others whose behaviours are clearly wrong. This is a polite form of cowardice, not mercy. Real mercy is always intimately linked to truth. 

We Christians can be truthful without being merciful, but then we would be like the scribes who wished to stone the adulteress who violated the Mosaic Law. But a Christian cannot be merciful without being truthful. For the simple truth is we are called to conversion. 

Mercy asks us to teach the truth but also to live it. It asks us to preach not ourselves but the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is news of redemption. That is what we celebrate at Easter – the call to conversion and the gift of redemption; that we are not the sum of our sins – we are the sum of His mercy. 

As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, rejoice that love is stronger than death and that God’s mercy endures forever. 

My heartfelt thanks to Fr Ambrose on the Falklands, to Fr David on St Helena and to James, Anne and Derek on Tristan da Cunha for all their hardwork, dedication and commitment over this last year. It has been an extraordinary time, but thank God we have extraordinary priests and lay ministers serving our island communities. Thank God for them and pray for them (but please don’t forget to show them how much you appreciate them – nothing says I love you like a thank you and maybe some chocolates or even a bottle!). 

Please God, I will be able to visit soon and I look forward to seeing you all again. 

In the meantime, may the Lord bless you, and may his divine mercy and love flow into your hearts and homes this Eastertide. Remember on this Divine Mercy Sunday, “before we can be just, we must learn to love.” 

Please pray for me. You are in my prayers every day. 

Your brother and friend, 

Abbot Hugh Allan, o.praem.