28 April 2019
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)
As we come to the eighth day of Easter, we recall the disciple who did not encounter the risen Lord until a week after all the rest. Thomas, because of today’s Gospel often referred to as ‘doubting Thomas’, did not have Christ come to him with all the rest of the disciples immediately. Instead, the Lord first tried to give him the chance of greater blessedness through trust, through believing in the witnesses whom He chose to send to Thomas. Sorrow and pain at the suffering and death of Christ, however, are too overwhelming for this soon-to-be apostle. All he can think about are the wounds he has seen all over Christ’s body. All he can remember is taking the Lord who had loved him so much, and placing Him in a cold tomb. No, Thomas will not trust the word of friends over the fact of Christ’s death. The Resurrection, the restoration of Christ to Thomas must be as tangible, as certain, as searing as the pain which Thomas has felt at the loss of his Lord.
And so the merciful Lord Jesus comes to him. Christ guides Thomas’ hands into the marks of His Passion, into the side from which His last life blood flowed out. The Risen Lord makes the Peace of His Resurrection as certain and as sensible as the confusion His death had wrought in the heart of His disciple and friend.
On this Sunday, celebrated in the Universal Church as the Sunday of Divine Mercy, let us recall how our merciful and risen Lord comes to us. Let us take the pains which life has plunged us in, and remember how Christ has plunged us into His own death in Baptism so that we might now live in His Resurrection. Let us take the sorrow which sin has caused, and let the words of pardon and peace which the Risen Christ speaks through His priest hit ours ears and settle into our hearts. Let our reception of the Eucharist sear us with the realization that this is the wounded Flesh of our Lord, which has overcome all wounds and death itself, which touches our bodies and souls with the new life of the Resurrection. With Thomas, let us name who Jesus is, “My Lord and My God!” With St. Faustina, with innumerable souls now devoted to our risen Lord’s Mercy, let us cry out, “Jesus, I trust in You!”