USA, Stockbridge<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> April\u00a012, 2015<\/p>\n<\/div> Coming from at least nine different states and two Canadian provinces, upwards of 15,000\u00a0pilgrims were welcomed on April\u00a012, Divine Mercy Sunday, to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Archbishop of New York, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, was lead celebrant of the day’s Holy Mass, which was broadcast around the world on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).<\/p>\n “We know there is no limit to God’s mercy,” said Cardinal Dolan in his homily for the Mass. “It is the most powerful force in the universe.<\/p>\n “Nobody, nowhere, no how, no thing can be excluded from God’s mercy \u2014 unless we ourselves are unwilling to accept it,” the cardinal said. “God doesn’t force his gifts on us. He doesn’t jam mercy down our throat. He doesn’t violate our freedom, you see. The only limit on God’s mercy is the limit we ourselves put in place.”<\/p>\n The two ways in which we can block the Lord’s mercy, Cardinal Dolan explained, are despair (the belief that God cannot forgive us because our sins are too great or His love is too small) and presumption (the belief that we don’t have any sins that need forgiving). He pointed to the example of Pope Francis, who was asked once by a journalist how he would describe himself. Pope Francis responded, “I am a sinner.”<\/p>\n Cardinal Dolan shared a powerful story of meeting a recovering alcoholic at the rehab center St. Christopher’s Inn. The man described to the cardinal his “gutter moment” that forced him to recognize he needed help. After a weeklong binge, the alcoholic man woke up in a gutter, dragged himself home, and fell asleep in his young son’s room \u2014 only to be woken by the child’s terrified cries for his mother, saying, “There’s a man in my room and I don’t know who he is! I’m frightened!”<\/p>\n That recognition of his own fallenness, said Cardinal Dolan, allowed the man to be honest about who he is, the help he needs, and begin to turn his life around. So, too, do all Christians need to recognize their own need for God’s mercy and grace to become the holy children of God we’re meant to be.<\/p>\n “We say with Pope Francis, ‘I am a sinner,'” said Cardinal Dolan. “We recognize this Divine Mercy. And if we don’t, we’re missing out on the Easter gift of Jesus, which is Divine Mercy.”<\/p>\n View Cardinal Dolan’s homily:<\/p>\n<\/div>USA, Stockbridge, Mass.: Mercy Sunday 2015 at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy<\/h1><\/div>