 Today, the Church looks to the Risen Lord, bearing on His Body the scars of His Sacred Passion, an everlasting sign of His victory over death. The Church looks with deep adoration on the side of her Saviour, from where blood and water gushed forth, a symbol of His mercy that poured forth to embrace the whole world.
On this day, Divine Mercy Sunday, the Risen Lord speaks to His Bride,
…the very depths of My tender mercy are open… all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of an angel will be able to fathom it through all eternity… Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.
(Divine Mercy in My Soul, St. Faustina)
This Feast comes at a crucial time for our nation. It is not a coincidence. Christ wants to invite our aching nation to His Merciful Heart. Hence what appears to be an amazing coincidence, having a historic election between two big feasts of mercy, is indeed divine design. Our Lord rules. In his Kingdom, nothing happens by accident. He loves detail. He has got time to split our hairs and number them.
Unlike the unnatural suffering of Job, Zimbabwe’s suffering is man-made, self-inflicted. We have no claim to the righteousness of our colleague from the biblical land of Uz. Our path since 1980 has not been such that we can truly be proud of. God owes us nothing. We owe Him a lot and if His Mercy does not fill the chasm we have created between us and Him, we continue to perish. We, who are called Christians, many times, who call ourselves saints’ clothes ourselves with pseudo-righteousness, shut our eyes from the sinful state we are in, and demand in prayer that God grant us relief and yet we make no effort to depart from our sins. We continue to sup with the devil, approving by our cowardly silence of every demonic gesture that comes his chambers.
Our sweet and pleasant land has been widowed and desolated. Her pride restored at independence has been humbled and by her own sons, trampled in the bloody mire.
For this among many, Christians owe this nation, not just an ordinary prayer, by an intense plea for mercy, from a humble and contrite heart. We must depart from sinful ways.Â
Blasphemy and idolatry are chief, among our sins. We have replaced the Lord Almighty with other gods and spirits. We have lowered the Cross of Christ. If you listen carefully to our national anthem you will understand what I mean. The Spirit of God and the Blood of Jesus have been dethroned by human spirits and human blood. This is contrary to the word of God;
One cannot redeem oneself,
Pay to God a ransom
Too high the price to redeem a life
One would never have enough.
(Psalms 48:7-10)
When you listen to our leaders speak, you will understand that Yahweh has no more jurisdiction in their hearts than he has in hell. They labour under the reign of Baal. Their obsession with the achievements of human strength has blinded them from the workings of the Ancient of Days, Him who is seated at the circle of time, counting what this nation did cost Him. Our little sacrifices have blinded us from the Eternal Sacrifice of the Cross.
By trampling upon the rights of the poor, we have positioned ourselves in opposition to the One who is one with the poor. Blindly we have embraced this idolatry and blasphemy, lifted up creatures and enthroned them ancient of days’, secretly hoping their days may never end. We have lowered the Cross of Calvary, and lifted other icons, worshipped them as the sources of our salvation, our very own continuance as a nation.
The Scripture gives a perfect summary,
For in the things through which they suffered distress
since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods,
They saw and recognised the true God
whom before they had refused to know;
with this their final condemnation came upon them
(Wisdom 12:12)
Our transgressions are much greater than we realize and indeed God owes us nothing. We speak in tongues while we place our boot on a poor brother’s neck.
These transgressions, we must acknowledge and make a complete turnover to our true and only Saviour. Our little sacrifices and blood-drops are nothing apart from Christ’s redeeming blood. If anything, they can become a basis for arrogance and pride. It is only the great sacrifice of Christ’s own life that gives meaning to our little sacrifices. Zimbabwe must find her way to the Cross of Christ; otherwise all sacrifices will be useless and even consume her own children. Zimbabwe must listen to the words of her Saviour, Apart from me you are nothing.
She must listen to the exhortation of her great martyrs,
God’s love within you is your native land.
So search none other, never more depart,
For you are homeless save God keeps your heart.
(John Bradburne of Mutemwa)
This is the task we face today. We are called to look, neither East, nor West. We are called to look up Mount Calvary, to the Cross, our only source of salvation. Then the East and the West, South and North, will run to us.
Zimbabwe is God’s darling.
Post published in: News