Tomorrow is the Second Sunday of Gospel and, as it has been this past week, the Gospel tells a resurrection story, this time when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after he rose from death. On that day, the disciples were in a locked door fearful of the Jews when Jesus appeared to them, showing them his hands and his side. This caused great rejoicing among them for indeed their master has risen from the dead.
Thomas, one of the apostles, did not witness the event. So when he was told about the news, he was doubtful, saying—unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. It was only a week after when Jesus again appeared and Thomas was with them. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Many of us are like the doubting Thomas. We demand from God a sign of his presence in order that we should believe. To us God is a distant, opaque and invisible being. Yet, it is sin that beclouds our vision of God. A clean and pure heart has a 20/20 vision of God. But even to the unbelieving, God is ever present. He constantly urges the sinner to reconcile with him, but oftentimes it is our hearts enwrapped with hatred, impurity, violence and other forms of iniquity that compel us to reject the promptings of his spirit and force us to refuse to even acknowledge his presence in our lives.
This day is also called the Divine Mercy Sunday. It is the day when God opens the floodgates of graces and mercy to those who approach him, even to the hardest of sinners. The devotion of the Divine Mercy began to spread throughout the world in the 1930s based on the 600-page diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, a young Polish nun recording the revelations from Jesus. Jesus requested that Blessed Faustina make a special novena before the Feast of Mercy, from Good Friday through the following Saturday. Jesus also asked that a picture be painted according to the vision of Himself as the fountain of mercy. He gave her a chaplet to be recited and said that it was appropriate to pray the chaplet at three o’clock each afternoon (the Hour of Great Mercy)The devotion spread the message that God is merciful and forgiving that we too must show mercy and forgiveness; that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone— especially the greatest sinners.
As recorded in St. Faustina’s diary, Jesus was quoted to have warned “Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands” (Diary, 1728). On another occasion, Jesus sighs the indifference of many souls to his offer of love, saying, “My Heart overflows with great mercy for. Xxx I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but they do not want to accept them (…). Oh, how indifferent are souls to so much goodness, to so many proofs of love! (…). They have time for everything, but they have no time to come to Me for graces” (Diary, 367).
Yet God in his infinite mercy remains faithful to his errant children, offering salvation even to the most hardened of sinners. He promises to bestow to them many graces, even victory over enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death to whosoever performs acts of devotion on this blessed Sunday.
In April 2000, St. Pope John Paul II in his homily, during the canonization of St. Faustina, said that God’s message of mercy continues to reach us through his hands held out to suffering man. This is how St. Faustina saw him and proclaimed him to people on all the continents when, hidden in her convent at Lagiewniki in Kraków, she made her life a hymn to mercy: Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo.
Nearer to home, our parish—Jesus, Lord of the Divine Mercy—is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It’s a wonderful Church that services a faithful community. We have been fortunate to have been blessed also with good pastors.
This Sunday reminds us that God continuously pursues and offers us his love and mercy despite our intransigence and constant refusal to accept or even acknowledge His offer of love. It is time to renew our faith and trust in the risen Lord for today he is not only giving us a unique opportunity to experience his love and mercy, but also “to practice mercy’ towards others: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
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