Divine Mercy Sunday

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Mass Readings
First Reading: Acts 5:12-16
Psalm: Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Second Reading: Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19
Gospel: John 20:19-31

The Lord is risen alleluia. Peace be with you on this Divine Mercy Sunday. Inspired by a revelation to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy Sunday focuses on the gift of mercy and love that we are given through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. All our readings today in some way describe God’s mercy and love.

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 5 explains how the Risen Lord continued to show his Divine Mercy to the sick through the healing and preaching ministry of the apostles. The Responsorial take from Psalm 118 shows the Divine Mercy that “endures forever.” The second reading, taken from the first chapter of the Book of Revelation encourages Christians to fight fear with faith, and trepidation about the future with trust and hope. And in today’s Gospel from John 20, we hear that familiar story about doubting Thomas. You know, I think Thomas gets a bit of a bum rap, but Thomas says he will not believe unless he sees Jesus – unless he can see and touch Jesus’ wounds.

You know, I encounter a lot of people like Thomas – or perhaps worse. At least Thomas was willing to believe if he saw Jesus. I’ve encountered people who don’t want to see Jesus. There are those who are so angry about something that happened in their life or over someone they lost, that they are afraid of what they’d say to Jesus if they met him. They’re more willing to scream to heaven, “Where are you God!” Maybe they’re too comfortable with their anger.

I’ve also encountered people who are so embarrassed or ashamed of something they did, or something done to them that they can’t bring themselves to look in Jesus’ eyes. They think they are in some way unworthy. Maybe they’re afraid of being forgiven or they’re too comfortable with their pain or their embarrassment.

And then there are the people I’ve encountered who can’t believe that there is a Jesus at all. They have no desire to look for Jesus, let alone come face to face with him. They’re skeptical.

How do we bring God’s Divine Mercy to all these people? I’d like to share a recent experience with you. Last week, most of my family and I had the chance to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes with HCPT. I think I will dedicate an entire podcast episode to our experience, but for now, I’d like to share this brief story with you. HCPT is a UK-based organization founded by Dr. Michael Strode who is now a Cistercian monk. HCPT helps children and young adults with disabilities travel on pilgrimage to Lourdes. We were blessed to travel with HCPT Switzerland on the Easter pilgrimage.

On our last day, our group leader arranged for us to celebrate our last mass at the Catholic Ukrainian church in Lourdes. It’s a beautiful, small church. We invited the HCPT group from Bristol, the “Green Machine” to join us for our last mass since the Swiss group is an offshoot of the Green Machine. There was a young man in the Green Machine whose name I don’t know. As it happens, he’s confined to a wheelchair. As the mass progressed, he began to cry. Soon, he was outright bawling as were many of the Green Machine helpers. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to speak with him after mass, but what I’ve learned from others is that the end of pilgrimage week can be a highly emotional experience for everyone. You see, when all these youth from around the world gather together at Lourdes for Easter, they don’t experience judgment or prejudice there.

When we gather, we don’t see disabilities. We see people. Period. For some of the youth who come here, this may be a very different experience then their lives back home. I think those who travel here with some sort of disability experience the Divine Mercy of God through all the people around them. Whether the helpers realize it or not or want to believe it or not, they – we – are conduits for God’s Divine Mercy. But Jesus also said, whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me, Matthew 25:40. So when we treat people with disabilities with respect and as equals, we are in fact ministering to Jesus Christ. We are touched by the Jesus through those to whom we minister. So you see, we allow Jesus to touch others through us and we are touched by Jesus through others.

But this experience of sharing with each other God’s mercy isn’t something limited to Lourdes that can be bottled up and brought home. God’s mercy is available to all of us all the time – no matter what we’ve done. We just need to ask. You see, in today’s Gospel, when Jesus appeared to Thomas, he could have run, because Jesus will not force himself on anyone. Like Thomas, we need to be willing to face Jesus and allow God’s healing to wash over us. That’s the beautiful thing about the waters of Lourdes. It helps us experience in a concrete way God’s mercy washing us clean – healing us. But it doesn’t end there.

Jesus gave us his Church to bring us God’s mercy and grace every day! In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his Apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained,” John 20:23. We see this as the foundation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Some people ask, “Why do I need to go confess my sins to a man?” But it’s not about the priest. We confess our sins out loud to take responsibility for what we’ve done. We say it! We own it! We ask God for forgiveness. We can also experience God’s mercy through the mass itself – most especially in the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, we can experience God’s mercy through all the Sacraments in one way or another. The question is, are you ready, like Thomas, to face Jesus and proclaim, “My Lord! My God!”? And that leads us to our homework today.
Homework! I encourage you to reflect on the following two questions this week.