The Silver Rose

Happy Laetare Sunday.

This morning, the Pope went to the church of "God the Merciful Father," which has become something of a modern architectural landmark on the outskirts of Rome.

In his homily, Benedict XVI recalled that the church "was desired by my beloved predecessor John Paul II in remembrance of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, as it condenses in an efficient way the significance of that extraordinary spiritual event. Meditating on the mercy of the Lord, which revealed itself in a total and definitive way in the mystery of the Cross, my mind turns to the text which John Paul II had prepared for his appointment with the faithful on Sunday, 3 April, Low Sunday. In the designs of the divine it was written that he left us on the vigil of that day, Saturday 2 April, and for this he could not pronounce his words, which I'm pleased to repeat for you, dear brothers and sisters. He wrote this: 'To humanity, which seems at times to have gotten lost and dominated by the power of evil, by egotism and by fear, the Risen Lord offers as a gift his love which pardons, reconciles and opens the soul to hope. It's the love that converts hearts and gives peace.' And he added: 'What need the world has to understand and to welcome the Divine Mercy!'"

(That was the Whispers translation, of course.)

Notably, while John Paul's successor invoked the late pontiff's use of the term "Divine Mercy," he did not do so on his own.....


PHOTO: AP/Plinio Lepri

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