Happy-ending fairytales are wonderful to read, listen to, and watch on the movie screen or on television. They touch our hearts and make us feel good about the caring kindness of man, the beauty and strength of animals, and the splendor, charm, and allure of the world. They give us a sense of God’s original plan for His creation: man, animals, and plants all sharing the world in harmony.

When our four children were growing up in the 1980s and 90s, we would read happy-ending fairytale stories to them and take them to the movie theatre or rent a home video in order to see such Walt Disney, happy-ending, fairytale classics as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Beauty of the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin, Lady and the Tramp, and 100 Dalmatians. My wife Cindy and I enjoyed them as much as our children did. Both of us like “they-lived-happily-ever-after” stories. I think most of us want everyone’s life story to close with a happy ending. For every man, woman, and child who dies in a state of grace, their story will have a happy ending: eternity in heaven with God.

When a celebrity, friend, relative, or family member dies, we sometimes have a sense, because of how we think they lived their life, that God has called them home to heaven. But sometimes, if we are honest with ourselves, we are concerned about a person’s final destination: did God welcome him into heaven, or is he destined to spend eternity in hell. I’ve participated in a lot of funeral services and Masses since my ordination. I have the sense that too many mourners think that their friend or loved one is “automatically” headed to heaven. They too often remember the positive things associated with their life and ignore the negative things they did. Unless the Church canonizes a person as a saint, then until we die and enter heaven or hell, we cannot know with certainty whether the person’s life story had a happy ending. All we can do is call on the mercy of God.

The American-Heritage Dictionary defines mercy as “compassionate treatment, esp. of those under one’s power; a disposition to be kind and forgiving.” Sacred Scripture offers numerous examples of this definition of mercy. I believe Mt 18:21-35, the parable of the unforgiving servant, is an excellent example. Get your Catholic Bible and reread this passage from Matthew. A king, who has power over many, shows compassion, forgiveness, and mercy to one of his servants. Yet, this forgiven servant does not show the same compassion, forgiveness, and mercy to one of his servants. Jesus will forgive us an infinite number of times; yet, most of us find it difficult to forgive another person more than once, if at all. Jesus’ message in this parable is so clear; so why is it extremely difficult for us to consistently put His message into practice? Because we’re fallen human beings in need of a savior. Let us find the courage and strength to call on the mercy of God when we fail to forgive others.

The Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Dictionary defines Divine Mercy as “the attribute of God extending compassion to those in need.” It goes on to say, “Both the Old and New Testaments illustrate that God desires to show mercy to the sinner. One must humbly accept mercy; it cannot be earned. As Christ has been merciful, so the faithful are mandated to exercise compassion to others, forgiving---in the words of Jesus---‘seventy times seven times.’”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1037) says this about the mercy of God, “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want ‘any to perish, but all to come to repentance.’” Here the CCC is quoting our first pope, Saint Peter. In 2 Pet 3:9, Peter says, “The Lord does not delay His promise as some regard ‘delay,’ but He is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” To receive God’s mercy, a man must admit his faults.

If you think as I do, then my last statement raises a bigger question: what if someone does not know Jesus or believe in him; what happens to the infant or child who dies before he is baptized? The answer is simple but hard to accept: let us call on the mercy of God before and at the time of their death.

CCC 2840 offers this powerful insight into God’s mercy. “[God’s] outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see. In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father’s merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to His grace.”

God is more compassionate, more forgiving, and more merciful than any man can ever hope to be; but He calls each of us to never stop opening our hearts to our “brothers” and “sisters” and His mercy. Do not wait for the death of a celebrity you admire, or a friend, relative, or family member you love, to call on the mercy of God for their conversion. Call on the mercy of God right now and until the time of their death. Let us especially call on the mercy of God for unbaptized infants and children. Our God is a merciful God.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 210-11, 270, 277, 545, 589, 1037, 1058, 1439, 1490, 1829, 1846-47, 1870, 2040, 2100, 2840. Also, pull out your “Catholic” Bible and reference Ex 32:11-14; 34:5-9; Deut 7:9; Ps 51:19; Hos 6:6; Mt 1:21; 9:13; 26:28; Mk 2:17; Lk 15:7, 11-24; Jn 15:22; Rom 11:32; 1 Tim 1:15; Heb 2:16-18; 1 Jn 1:8-10; 4:20.