This week, as I was preparing the homily for Divine Mercy Sunday, I could not help but think of a movie that I saw earlier this week: Batman versus Superman— The Dawn of Justice. For those of you who have not yet seen this movie, the characters in it speak a great deal about justice, mercy and God. Why I thought about this movie this week is because I think it captures accurately the idea of human mercy, or how it is that we as humans think about mercy.

This movie is obviously a story about two superheroes— Batman and Superman.  The movie suggests that humans are always looking for a powerful being who will rescue them and whom they can turn into a type of god. The view of mercy that is presented in this movie is dependent upon a superhero like Batman or Superman who will come and show mercy to those who are in need of being saved. There are two ways that a superhero can show mercy. One way that a superhero can show mercy is by coming to rescue a person who is in need. The second way that a superhero can show mercy is by not destroying someone who deserves to be punished. Both of these ways are shown in the movie, Batman versus Superman— The Dawn of Justice.

One of the other features about superheroes in these movies is that they always have a power that no else can ever obtain. Much of the plot in these movies centers around how different the power which the superhero has makes them from other people or the way in which other people try to copy, capture or imitate the power of the superhero so that they might either defeat or compete with the superhero. In the movies, the superhero is only successful if they can keep their power to themselves and not be destroyed or conquered by another individual. Often superheroes must choose not to save someone so that they might save someone else or in order that they might live to be successful another day. In fact, there are situations in the movie Batman versus Superman where Batman and Superman must chose to save one person and not another because they cannot save two people at the same time and they fear losing their power to another person.

As I thought about this very human view of mercy that is presented in the movie Batman versus Superman— The Dawn of Justice, it struck me how completely different God’s mercy or Divine Mercy is. In His mission to save us, Jesus actually gave up all of His Divine power in order that He might actually become one like us— in all things but sin. Jesus gave up His divinity to share in our human condition. He poured out all of His power and took on human form so that He could die as a human being and share His victory with all people. The beautiful image of the Divine Mercy captures the idea of the blood and water that flowed out of Christ’s side so that He could share His mercy and love with all people in all ages. Today’s readings are a proclamation of how radically different Divine Mercy is from human mercy.

The first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles shows us that Jesus has no interest in keeping His power to heal and save to Himself. As Jesus once healed and forgave people in His own person, He died in order that He could share His power with His Church so that His mercy could touch all people in all times. In the Acts of the Apostles we see how Peter began to do many of the saving acts that Christ Himself had worked during His own lifetime. Peter who once denied Jesus three times is forgiven three times by the Risen Lord in order that he might become a co-worker with Christ and continue His saving work in the Church. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus had no desire to keep His power to heal and forgive to Himself. Rather, He died and rose from the dead so that through the power of the Holy Spirit, He might share His grace with everyone.

One of the most amazing features of the resurrection story is that after Jesus rises from the dead, not only does He desire to share His life with others through the power of the Holy Spirit, but He also still has His wounds and scares. Superheroes are successful because they are not injured. Jesus’ mercy is shown because He poured out His life and overcame death. His wounds proclaim to all of us, that no matter what wounds we experience in our own lives, Jesus and His victory over death can conquer them and raise us up with Him. So often we can be like Thomas and doubt that the Risen Lord can be present to us in our suffering and difficulties. Jesus wants us to see His wounds, to put our hands into them, and to acknowledge Him as our Lord and God and know that He will also be present to us in our difficulties. What makes Divine Mercy so radically different is that Jesus gives up His life to share it with each of us no matter who we are and no matter what we have done.

One of the most beautiful examples that I can remember of the way in which Jesus’ Divine Mercy can transform a person and be shared with other people is in the story of an old man who visited our city about fifteen years ago. For months before World Youth Day in 2002, people had been saying that Pope John Paul II would not be able to come to Toronto for World Youth Day. He had been sick for a long time and his health had been deteriorating rapidly. Somehow, he insisted on coming. When he arrived in Toronto, officials at the airport wanted to use an elevator to get him off the plane and on to the tarmac at the airport. He insisted on walking down the stairs to show the young people who had gathered in Toronto how important they were and how far he would go to be with them. For me that was Divine Mercy at work. God was using Pope John Paul II, a weak old man, in the same way that He used Peter in the Acts of the Apostles to show His love for all people. By allowing himself to be used by God’s mercy, Pope John Paul II allowed himself to become a witness of God’s mercy for other people and became a saint.

That is the amazing thing about God’s Divine Mercy— it is for everyone. Jesus gave His life so that we might also have life. As we receive His mercy, we are to open our own hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit so that we might also be witnesses and ambassadors of God’s mercy to other people. God shows His mercy to us, so that we, no matter how wounded we are, may be His co-workers and share His life and mercy with others. Ultimately God’s mercy is intended to allow us to share God’s life and to transform each of us into saints. And while I do not wish to ruin the movie, while someday both Batman and Superman must die, the Good News for all who accept God’s Divine Mercy is that Saints are called to live forever.

Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor – St. Peter’s Parish – Toronto