28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 / Blessing of the Divine Mercy Shrine

 

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
Los Angeles, California
October 14, 2020

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

It is a great joy to be with all of you today for the celebration of the Eucharist and also the blessing and dedication of the new shrine to the Divine Mercy.

And I was thinking that in these troubled times in our world, we need to deepen our hope and trust in God’s mercy. I pray that this new shrine will help us.

I know it has taken a long time to make this shrine and finally we did it! So I hope that you are happy!

So I’m grateful for your patience and I think this is something that makes sense that we have in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — so I’m very happy too.

Mercy is the heart of God, and the name of God. His mercy is written on every page of the sacred Scriptures.

And in Jesus, God’s mercy becomes a man, a child born in a mother’s womb who comes to share our human lives, our joys and sorrows.

Jesus comes to reveal the heart of God, and he comes to show us the path we must travel to enter into God’s heart, into the heart of divine mercy.

So today, we especially invoke Pope St. John Paul II today as we celebrate this new shrine that will hold the image of Divine Mercy that he blessed. We ask him today to intercede that we may seek always to fulfill the Lord’s command, that we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful.

And our readings tonight are filled with hope and joy, with the promises of our redemption, the promise of the Kingdom that is coming.

In the Gospel and in the first reading, the Kingdom of heaven is described as a great banquet, a wedding feast that all are invited to.

So today, God is telling us that he has not forgotten his covenant, he has not turned his back on his people. He is still the Lord of the nations, the Lord of all peoples.

The prophet Isaiah in the first reading reminds us — that our destiny is one of glory. As he tells us:

“He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face. On that day it will be said: ‘Behold our God … let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!’”

Our God is coming to save us, my dear brothers and sisters. And he will come! He is never far from us. And we can trust in the Lord always.

This is the beautiful hope as children of God, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So today we want to ask for the grace to open the eyes of our hearts, so that we can really hear God’s promises to us.

And in our second reading today, we hear that promise from St. Paul. He tells us:

“I have learned the secret! … I can do all things in him who strengthens me. … My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

So my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ will answer every prayer. He will give us the strength we need — and everything else.

Our Father is rich in mercy and he is calling us to this heavenly banquet, to the Eucharist, to the wedding feast of his Son. We hear his invitation today in the Gospel:

“Behold, I have prepared my banquet … everything is ready; come to the feast.”

God is so generous, as we hear in the Gospel. Even though people do not accept his invitation, they have all kinds of excuses, as we heard in today’s passage of the Gospel. But still God keeps inviting, keeps calling.

But I noticed something interesting in today’s passage of the Gospel — I mean everything is interesting, but I noticed something that caught my attention, that is clear to all of us. One of the guests, who accepts the invitation, but when he arrives he is not dressed properly.

And as we hear, the king is angry. We hear him ask the guest: “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?”

He is not talking about clothing, or what we wear to come to church. My brothers and sisters, God is talking — king in this case represents God — he is talking about our hearts, about our souls.

And what is the best wedding garment? Love.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in today’s passage of the Gospel. I can say that maybe we can understand, in a simple way, that love is “the ticket” to the banquet. Sometimes we need a ticket to get to Church — hopefully not.

So love is what allows us to the wedding feast. Without love, we cannot get in. Without love, Jesus tells us today, we cannot be worthy sit at his table.

So today, as we reflect on this new shrine to the Divine Mercy, we recognize that mercy is the overflow of love, and love takes practice.

To be merciful means loving with our hearts totally alive, totally open to the needs of those around us. It means making little sacrifices in our daily lives, always looking for little ways to be generous.

This is how God’s kingdom of mercy grows, my dear brothers and sisters. So let’s ask for the grace to do our part, each of us, to spread his mercy and love to the ends of the earth!  

So let us ask Holy Mary, the Mother of Mercy, to help us to be men and women of mercy.

St. John Paul II, pray for us! St. Faustina, pray for us!