Today is a day made evil by worldly, secular worship. So, let’s look at Divine Mercy.
We should have mercy because we are mercifully treated, not because we will receive mercy.
We can’t say, “In order for me to be forgiven, I have to forgive you.” No, that is a secular way of thought. We get something in return for doing something. That’s not how God works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8.
Mercy is a gift of God from God. We are forgiven our sins because God is merciful and loving, not because we earned nor can earn that mercy. God freely gives us faith and mercy. It is because of God’s Divine Mercy that we can be merciful. But, to be merciful, truly as Gos calls us, means to be merciful like God. God delights in giving His mercy. So, we too must delight in mercy.
We don’t give mercy and forgiveness because we are told to or because we must in order to receive Heaven. We give mercy freely, deserved or not, to all as a delight and desire of our heart.
Forgiveness and mercy at this level may seem impossible for some. ‘You can’t expect me to forgive that, Lord.’ But, that is precisely what Hod wants you to forgive. Forgiving the impossible is an act of God’s love not our will. “With God, all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
“”You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”; “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make “ours” the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave” us.” Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2842
It is when we stop trying to forgive at the worldly level, that is, from our mind that we begin to ‘make ours the same mind that was Christ Jesus.’ When we begin to live ‘from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God’ that we can truly become merciful as the Father is merciful.
It is then that the chains of the world are shattered and mercy will flow freely from our hearts through others and then from their hearts. God’s mercy will reign in all hearts.