6 Gulf Pine Catholic • April 10, 2026 I meet them at every waking moment, at every crossroads in life, at every situation imaginable; even in my slumber hours. I have no choice. Some are welcome; some are surprises; some at puzzling, some are questioning; some are soul-searching; some are faith testing; some are grateful and supporting; some are painful and hurting; some are invisible and some are assuring. But, no matter what, I have no choice but to face them. The face of a newborn is a face that reminds me of the miracle of life; the face that reminds me of the gift of hope; the face that reminds me that God still believes is humanity and shows it; the face that exudes faith, hope and trust; a face that portrays innocence and trust in humanity yet to be discovered; a face whose true potential and giftedness is yet to be discovered. The face of a child beginning their first day at school; a face that feels so grown up with their school bag filled with lunch and curiosity; a face that is filled with timidity as they embrace a new slice of life; a face that wonders if friends can be made easily and kept; a face that wonders if it will be accepted and appreciated rather than bullied and ostracized; a face that is ready to drink in and be overwhelmed at times by the new knowledge and feel so little in the midst of such mass of knowledge. The face of a graduate; a face that is often a contradiction between confidence and fear; a face that is past ready to loosen the apron strings of home for greater freedom; a face that is ready to continue to earn the trust that is laid at their feet; a face that still wrestles with questions such as “Did I make the right decisions?” “Will I be happy in my chosen area of study?” “Is this the right fit for me?”; a face that, no matter what, will be dogged by more questioning than assuring answers. The face of a newly engaged; a face that, in one way, feels happy about the decision, while, at the same time, second guessing it; a face that is ready to build a dream but realizes that it could be shattered by one moment of mistrust that could last a lifetime; a face that realizes that “happy ever after” is storybook tales without faith, hope and trust in the promises made and continually sealed by their living out daily for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer; in sickness, and in health. The face of an older person; a face that continues to live through the daily grinds of life with robust trust and undaunted faith; a face that, like the face of Janus, is both looking back on the past and still hoping for more growth filled and on-the-job daily experiences that will both continue to challenge one’s prowess and resolve and question the ability to embrace each moment as growth filling and maturing. The face of a person who just heard the death sentence from their doctor; a face filled with shock and unbelief; the face that ask, “Why me, why now? I have so much to live for and so little to die for;” a face filled with raw, searching questions and lack of consoling answers; a face that wants to try to bargain with promises they wonder if delivery of such promises may even matter; a face with “how long?” with the only answer is that it is not yours to decide; a face that lives the torture of each passing moment with the desire to be grateful for a live well lived so far. The face of a war-torn victim trying to make sense and survive in a war that they did not begin, want or control; the face that listens day and night to the harrowing sounds of weapons sent from afar and yet may kill them; the face that decries destructive, human savagery and inhumanity; a face that wonders about the futility of death and destruction, perpetrated on humanity by an ego-driven and yet, supposedly redeemed fellow human being; a face that is filled with pain, anger, resentment and loss of hope. The face of a refugee; a face that is uprooted from family and friends; from stability and familiar places; a face that is often thrust into another hostile environment where the stranger is not wanted and reminded to take their problems elsewhere; a face doomed to be a wandering spirit without acceptance, toleration or roots to any stability; a face that carries the cross of rejection even as they cry out for acceptance and trust, for a chance to begin again and to contribute to a possible new homeland. Still, amid these myriad of faces, there is a glimmer of hope; there is the ever present indominable human spirit at work. Amid their furrowed and wrinkled faces, there is a deeper desire to have faith, hope and love that no one can destroy. There is the indelible reminder that after every Good Friday comes an Easter Sunday. Let’s face it! Father Michael Tracey is retired and lives in Ireland. He can be contacted by email at mjtracey72@ yahoo.com. His website is www.michaeltracey.net. Let’s face it! Across the Pond Father Tracey On June 7, 1997, Pope St. John Paul II visited the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland. There, he stated, “Those who sincerely say, ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ will find comfort in all their anxieties and fears. There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy -- that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the holiness of God.” As we move through these early days of the Easter Season, united in joy over the miracle of the Resurrection, it is fitting that our Second Sunday of Easter should be Divine Mercy Sunday because Divine Mercy is the great fruit of Christ’s sacrifice. John Paul II elevated this devotion because he had such a keen understanding of the spirituality of St. Faustina Kowalska, who died in Krakow in 1938, the very same year that he, as then 18-year-old Karol Wojtyla, moved to that city with his father. Karol’s mother had died of a heart attack when he was just eight years old, and his sister died before he was even born. His older brother Edmund succumbed to scarlet fever when Karol was just 12 years old. Edmund was a physician who contracted scarlet fever after treating those suffering from the illness. Karol’s father died of a heart attack just three years after they moved to Krakow. Later, as pope, he recalled that time in his life, saying, “At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved.” Acquaintance with loss prepared young Karol for the specter of war looming in Europe. But Karol was also acquainted with hope, and he was prepared to respond to the tragedy of World War II with bold action. He defied the Nazis by entering the clandestine underground seminary, even while he fulfilled their mandatory labor requirement by working in a quarry. It was during this time that he learned of Faustina’s writings, which led to his devotion to Divine Mercy. It was a devotion that planted a seed of hope inspiring him to continue to defy the Nazis by protecting many Jewish people. That devotion also later inspired him to become a brave voice in Poland’s struggle for religious freedom behind the Iron Curtain of Russian communism. When he became pope, John Paul II spoke of the importance of Divine Mercy to his pontificate, saying, “Right from the beginning of my ministry in St. Peter’s See in Rome, I considered this message my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church and the world. It could be said that precisely this situation assigned that message to me as my task before God.” St. Faustina’s profound mystical experiences led her to reveal the vital importance of God’s mercy, which inspired young Karol Wojtyla, who carried his first-hand knowledge of the power of mercy into a pontificate that amplified the message of Divine Mercy. That message is a continuum tracing directly to Christ and His Resurrection. It falls to us now to pick up the mantle. Each one of us, in our own time, is called to follow in the footsteps of saints like Faustina and John Paul II and all those who have raised up the message announcing that God’s mercy is triumphant and extends to the farthest reaches of creation and the deepest recesses of each soul. Fr. Ed Dougherty, M.M., serves on The Christophers’ Board of Directors. For a free copy of the Christopher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org. Mercy raises man above his weakness Light One Candle Fr. Dougherty
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