Exiit qui seminat

“I wish solemnly to entrust the world to divine mercy. I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope.” With this phrase, Pope St. John Paul II entrusted to the whole world to God's Divine Mercy when he consecrated the International Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland in 2002.

It was the completion of a devotion that began some 60 years earlier when as a young seminarian, Karol Wojtyla, first learned of the locutions that St. Faustina Kowalska received from our Lord. From that time on, the soon to be pope was inspired in a particular way to be an instrument of the Lord's mercy and forgiveness, seeing it as his greatest calling as the Successor to St. Peter. he felt spreading the message of divine mercy to be his greatest calling.

”Right from the beginning of my ministry in St. Peter’s See in Rome, I considered this message my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church, and the world. It could be said that precisely this situation assigned that message to me as my task before God.

" Our Lord's mercy and forgiveness and a devotion to His Divine Mercy are all the more important and impactful in the world in which we live. In so many ways, our world can be a harsh and unforgiving place where mistakes are swiftly punished and second chances rarely given. It truly goes against our faith, because if the Lord can readily forgive us our sins (and does through the Sacrament of Reconciliation) then who are we to refuse that mercy to others? In addition, we must disavow ourselves of the misnomer that our own sins are unforgivable. That is the work of the devil who wants to be as far away from divine grace and mercy as humanly possible.

So on this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us avail ourselves of our Lord's redeeming and merciful love. In turn let us share the spark of the fire of divine love to our brothers and sisters. As Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed in April of 2000 when he canonized St. Faustina, "This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness! I entrust this task to you, dear Brothers and Sisters, to the Church in Kraków and Poland, and to all the votaries of divine mercy who will come here from Poland and from throughout the world. May you be witnesses to mercy!”