As an old tradition goes, the first Sunday after Easter is called Low Sunday, and "John Paul II wanted this Sunday to be celebrated as the feast of the Divine Mercy", because, "in the word ‘mercy’, he found the whole mystery of Redemption summed up and newly interpreted for our time". Benedict XVI’s first thought went to his predecessor, during the sermon for Mass that he officiated yesterday morning in front of the Vatican Basilica on the occasion of his 80th birthday, which falls on this day, April 16th. Mass was jointly celebrated by 60 cardinals. John Paul II, added the Pope, "lived under two dictatorships and, in his contact with poverty, need and violence, he deeply experienced the power of darkness, by which the world is still threatened. But he also experienced, and no less powerfully, the presence of God who opposes to all these forces with His totally divine and different power: with the power of mercy. It is mercy that puts a limit on evil". Still about the Polish Pontiff: "As he died, he entered the light of the Divine Mercy, of which, beyond death and starting from God, he now speaks to us in a new way. Trust he tells us the Divine Mercy! Day after day, be men and women of God’s mercy!".
