The Compass

Blessed John Paul II designated the Second Sunday after Easter as "Divine Mercy Sunday." The title is rooted in the apparitions and locutions of Jesus to a Polish nun named St. (Sister) Maria Faustina who lived from 1905 to 1938. Jesus revealed to her his great desire to show mercy to all humanity, a mercy especially tied to the traditional hour of his death, the three o'clock hour. The devotion has an image of Jesus described from Sr. Faustina's apparition depicting blue and red rays of light emanating from the side of Christ. They represent his mercy shown in the blood and water of Eucharist and baptism. The focus is always on the merciful love of God shown to repentant sinners. Blessed John Paul II desired to formally recognize elements of St. Faustina's experience. One was the establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday itself and another was through the incorporation of the message of mercy into the means of a plenary indulgence. The pope alone had the authority to do this.

One of the most painful things a Mass-attending Catholic can hear is, "I don't go to Mass because I don't (feel like I) get anything out of it." If you've ever said this, perhaps you were told you would get more out of it if only you would change X. While this may be true, it is not the best answer.

The most honest, truthful answer is this: We are not meant to always feel like we have gotten something out of Mass. We are not always meant to feel good at Mass, to feel close(r) to God, to feel enriched.

Normally this column addresses state policy issues. This time it speaks to a national question – the scope of religious liberty in our national health care reform legislation.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reaffirmed a rule forcing nearly all private health plans to include coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, as well as surgical sterilization. These are listed among "preventive services" for women.

Editor's Note: Doris Vincent, associate director of the diocesan Curia, died Jan. 22 following a brief battle with multiple cancers.

"As they [Jesus and the disciples] continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak." You know the story, Martha was the worker, all about the administrative details of running the place, and Mary was the pray-er, the one at the feet of Jesus. Which was Doris, a Martha or a Mary?