My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We are in the Season of Grace, the Easter Season, in which our Lord Jesus is risen from the dead and invites us all to have new life with Him. In addition, our Blessed Pope John Paul II established for us the Divine Mercy Sunday, which he asked the whole Catholic Church to celebrate on the second Sunday of Easter. This is the one of greatest gifts for us in the 21st century.
In our world – and especially in our society – everything must be quick: instant coffee, instant noodles, fast food, quick drinks, quick cash, quick pay, even quick falling in love and quick separation, quick Mass, etc… And with the scientific advances, the computer can do a lot of things – quickly.
For these reasons, I believe that our Blessed Pope John Paul II introduced the brief prayer: “Jesus, I trust in you!” In fact, this is the shortest and quickest prayer in our Catholic Church. And why do we need to say this prayer? It is the easiest way to pray, and the quickest way to call upon God: “Jesus, I trust in you.” Everyone can pray it, because these are only five-letter words. We can say this prayer anywhere and in any place, and especially when we are in an emergency, when we cannot remember any other form of prayer and when we are near death.
Needless to say, this prayer is very powerful, because Jesus directed to St. Faustina to say it a few decades ago. When we say this prayer, we confirm our faith in Jesus, and we acknowledge who we are: fragile human beings, sinners, unworthy and undeserved of anything. We are nothing, but with Jesus, whom we trust and with His mercy, we are something and someone: sons and daughters of God again.
My dear friends, like Thomas in the Gospel today when he encountered Jesus, let us proclaim: “My Lord and my God!” We aren’t fortunate enough to see Jesus with our naked eyes, but we can depend on His mercy; then we can trust in Him. I would like to invite you this whole week to practice this quick and, but powerful prayer: “Jesus, I trust in you!”
Happy Easter season,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor