"...have mercy on us and on the whole world"

Rooted as it is in private revelation, some Catholics don't much care for observing the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. I am glad that since 2000 the last day of the Octave of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. Each year, I also pray the Divine Mercy novena, which starts on Good Friday. I usually extend the novena to ten days by praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday.

Yes, I grasp that Saint Faustina's Diary contains some outdated as well as some controversial theological content. But I am comfortable with venerating her as the Apostle of Divine Mercy. I believe Christ sought to communicate something very deep about what, on the ninth day of the novena, is referred to as "the abyss" of Divine Mercy, to Saint Faustina.

An "abyss" is a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm, or, metaphysically, a bottomless chasm. Taking a cue from Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, if the abyss is Divine Mercy, you need to not worry that "the abyss will gaze back into you." Sticking with this same Nietzschean passage, the monster you need to see to it that you don't become is merciless.

One objection to Divine Mercy Sunday is the Easter octave is a time of rejoicing, not of penitence. According to this, Divine Mercy takes us back to Lent, even Good Friday. If we take the Sacrament of Penance as the sacrament of mercy, it depends on how you understand this sacrament.

I don't view going to confession as being about admitting my egregious failures. For me, the Sacrament of Penance is where I go to claim Christ's victory over sin, which is my victory. Of course, by making an Act of Contrition, I promise to do my best, with God's help, not to keep sinning, especially not in the same ways I just confessed. You know what? Despite myself, I often return to my old ways. Yes, I get discouraged by this at times.

As Pope Francis noted several times during the Jubilee of Mercy, you will tire of asking God's forgiveness before God grows weary of forgiving you. No, this is not an invitation to sin. It is reassurance for my weakness, my forgetfulness, my fascination with nothingness.

Neither do I go to confession to find out if God will forgive me my sins. In and through Christ, I am always already forgiven. So, why go to confession? Well, confession, which is a liturgy (i.e., something I do not merely something I think), is where I experience Divine Mercy for myself. Because confession is where I go to claim victory and where I experience Divine Mercy in reality, it is a cause for rejoicing, not lamentation. It is, after all, Divine Mercy Sunday, not Lamenting Over My Sins Sunday.

Beginning with Paschal Vigil, my time of penance and lamentation is over. This culminated with my veneration of the cross on Good Friday. As I deacon, I am privileged to show the cross and to hold it while others venerate it.

So, today, on this Second Sunday of Easter, on this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us celebrate Christ's Easter victory. His Easter victory is our Easter victory. Let us rejoice and be glad.

Those, like me, who have experienced Divine Mercy are sent to extend Divine Mercy to others, especially those who've trespassed against us.