2nd Sunday Of Easter – 2025
Deacon Tom Vert
Preached: April 27, 2025
“The Name of God is Mercy”
In 2014 a book of conversations with Pope Francis was published with this title, and I think, on this Divine Mercy Sunday it is very appropriate to contemplate the Pope’s impact on our Church and on our lives with this theme of mercy.
If we are going to do this, we should first define – what is mercy? Mercy is defined as “giving undeserved kindness or forgiveness to those who may not deserve it.” In other words, to love even more than normal and to share that love with those who we may not even want to!
Mercy is integral to the character of God and the message of the Gospel. It is through God's mercy that humanity is offered salvation, by sending His Son into the world as told in the letter to Titus, “He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy.”
Pope Francis, preached about God’s mercy in his first homily as a Pope saying, “the message of Jesus is mercy… It is the core of the gospel message.” He continued to preach about mercy throughout his life and actions for the past 12 years. In his mercy and love, he went and taught us to love those on the “peripheries” of life…the homeless, the poor, the migrants, the sick, those in prison and those persecuted.
He traveled around the world to some of the smallest countries with almost no Catholics or persecuted Catholics like Mongolia, Iraq, Timor and not the big power centers. He reached out to those persecuted because of their sexuality saying, “If they accept the Lord, and have good will, who am I to judge?”
His first papal trip was not to Paris or London, but to the shores of the small island of Lampedusa to meet with the African migrants dying as they try to make it to freedom. He has opened the doors wider than ever before to include women in the highest ranks of the church, with Sister Petrini now the president of Vatican City, women voting during the most recent Synod, and even in our own country, Dr. Josie Lombardi as Dean of Studies at St. Augustine Seminary in Toronto.
His vision for the Church was not one of exclusivity but inclusive of all and stated “there is room for everyone in the Church…he embraces us all…. he never closes the door…God loves you!”
This love for people did not stop at Catholics, but he reached out to fellow Christians as well as people of other faiths. In his letter named – Fratelli Tutti or “All brothers and sisters” he argued that fraternal
(brotherly, sisterly) love for all people is the only way to change the world. We are called to dialogue and work with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others to have global peace, help solve world poverty and to care for our global environment. Fighting and competing with others, he told us, is not the solution to theses issues…but instead understanding and love of neighbour.
Pope Francis’ legacy is not in academic documents but the humility of a servant, a shepherd, who smells like his sheep.
Pope Francis was above all a pastor and pastoral. Carmela and I had the opportunity at a Wednesday papal audience in 2015 to meet the Holy Father on our 25th wedding anniversary and he gave us his papal blessing (probably why Carmela can still put up with me!) Carmela had a conversation with him in Italian, and we may not remember all the words, but we remember how it felt like we met with our grandfather and not the Holy Roman Pontiff. His eyes, his words, his smile and his gentleness were memories that will last forever.
Pope Francis gave us an example of humility each day as he paid his hotel bill in person the day after he was elected pope, he wore his old black shoes instead of the traditional papal red, he always carried his own briefcase, and for 12 years stayed in Vatican guesthouse and not papal apartments.
He taught us about mercy and love saying that when the father hugs the prodigal son “this is the love of God. This is his overabundant mercy.”
Pope Francis gave us even more examples of acts of mercy as he provided showers, haircuts, food/drink to the homeless in Rome and allowed them to sleep in tents near St. Peter’s square. He washed the feet of prisoners including women, and Muslims, and always visited hospitals and orphanages…truly he led more by example more than words.
So, we may ask ourselves, how can we honor this wonderful Pope? How would he want us to continue his legacy? I think he would say that since God is merciful, then we are called as followers of Christ,
to be merciful also.
We are to enact the seven Corporal acts of mercy: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, provide clothes to the poor, house the poor, visit the sick and the imprisoned. We need to follow the gospel message “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.”
Pope Francis challenges us for faith in action saying that mercy and forgiveness “must not remain beautiful words but must be realized in daily life.” And “If we Catholics were 10 times bolder and more creative in our practice of mercy than we are right now, how might things be different?”
Pope Francis was truly a gift to the Church, and a gift to us personally, so this week, let us honor him by thinking about what his focus was “The Name of God is Mercy”.
