Pope Benedict XVI reflections on Divine Mercy Sunday

On Divine Mercy and the Catholic Family

"It Is the Merciful Love of God that Solidly Unites the Church"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, APRIL 19, 2009 Here is a translation of the greeting Benedict XVI gave today before praying the Regina Caeli with the people gathered in the courtyard of the pontifical residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters!

On this Sunday that concludes the Easter Octave I renew from my heart fervent Easter wishes to you who are present and to those who are joining us through radio and television broadcasts. In the climate of joy that comes from the faith in the risen Christ, I would like to express a most cordial "thank you" to all of those -- and there are truly many -- who wanted to send me a sign of affection and spiritual nearness whether for the Easter festivities or for my birthday -- April 16 -- or for the anniversary of my election to the Chair of Peter which recurs today. I thank the Lord for this symphony of so much affection. As I was able to affirm recently, I never feel alone.

Even more in this singular week, which, for the liturgy, constitutes a single day, I experienced the communion that surrounds and sustains me: a spiritual solidarity, essentially nourished by prayer, which is manifested in thousands of ways. From my colleagues in the Roman Curia to the parishes that are geographically most distant, we Catholics form -- and we must feel that we are -- one family, animated by the same sentiments of the first Christian community, of which the text of the Acts of the Apostles, which we read this Sunday, says: "The community of believers were of one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32).

The communion of the first Christians had the risen Christ as true center and foundation. The Gospel says that, in the moment of the Passion, when the Divine Master was arrested and condemned to death, the disciples were dispersed. Only Mary and the women, with the apostle John, remain together and follow him to Calvary.

Resurrected, Jesus grants a new unity to his followers, stronger than before, invincible, because it is based not on human resources, but on divine mercy, which makes them all feel loved and forgiven by him. Therefore it is the merciful love of God that solidly unites the Church, today as yesterday, and that makes humanity a single family, divine love, which through Jesus crucified and risen forgives our sins and renews us interiorly. Animated by such a deep conviction, my beloved predecessor, John Paul II, desired that this Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, be named Divine Mercy Sunday, and pointed to the risen Christ as the font of confidence and hope, welcoming the spiritual message given by the Lord to St. Faustina Kowalsk a, synthesized in the invocation: "Jesus, I trust in you."

As for the first community, it is Mary who accompanies us in life every day. We invoke her as "Queen of Heaven," knowing that her royalty is like that of her Son: all love, and merciful love. I ask you again to entrust to her my service to the Church, while with confidence we say to her: "Mater misericordiae, ora pro nobis [Mother of mercy, pray for us.]"