04/11/2026
St. John Paul II has been called the "Mercy Pope" for a good reason.
As pope, he beatified and then canonized St. Faustina Kowalska, who received the message of divine mercy that later spread throughout the world. Long before that, when it seemed the writings about divine mercy would never see the public light, it was John Paul II who stepped in to move the process along. He spoke and wrote about divine mercy and made the Second Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday for the entire Church. And he died on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday.
The Polish pope had much to say about divine mercy throughout his pontificate and even wrote an encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, about God's mercy. Divine Mercy Sunday, is always the first Sunday after Easter Sunday. It is a perfect time to remember some of his many words about this great gift of God.
When he was in Poland on Aug. 17, 2002, for the dedication of the Divine Mercy Shrine in Krakow-Lagiewniki, John Paul II said in his homily:
"Like St. Faustina, we wish to proclaim that apart from the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for mankind. We desire to repeat with faith:
Jesus, I trust in you!"
"The heart of Christ! His 'Sacred Heart' has given men everything: redemption, salvation, sanctification. St. Faustina Kowalska saw coming from this heart that was overflowing with generous love two rays of light, which illuminated the world. 'The two rays,' according to what Jesus himself told her, 'represent the blood and the water' ('Diary, p. 132).
The blood recalls the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist; the water, according to the rich symbolism of the evangelist John, makes us think of baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit
(Jn 3:5; 4:14)
"Christ has taught us that 'man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called' to practice mercy toward others: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy' (Mt 5:7). He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgives sins but reaches out to all human needs.
Jesus bent over every kind of human poverty, material and spiritual."
The the pope sounded a note of warning even more suitable now:
"The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word 'mercy,' moves away from God and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy 'with loud cries! These 'loud cries' should be the mark of the Church of our times, cries uttered to God to implore his mercy, the certain manifestation of which she professes and proclaims as having already come in Jesus crucified and risen, that is, in the paschal mystery. It is this mystery which bears within itself the most complete revelation of mercy ..."
'''Jesus, I trust in you! There is no such darkness in which man would need to lose himself. If only he will put his trust in Jesus, he will always find himself in the light. Praised be Jesus Christ!"
