DIVINE MERCY OF JESUS: Acts 4:32-35; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31 (B Easter 2)

 

DIVINE MERCY OF JESUS

Acts 4:32-35; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31 (B Easter 2)

“Your real life is Christ” (DO) 

Today, the Second Sunday of the Easter season is Divine Mercy Sunday. It was named by Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Maria Faustina on April 30, 2000, and then officially decreed by the Vatican.  Divine Mercy Sunday can be seen as the convergence of all the mysteries and graces of Holy Week and Easter Week. The feast focuses the light of the Risen Christ into a radiant beam of merciful love and grace for the whole world. In his revelations to St. Faustina Jesus, expressed His desire to celebrate this special feast. He says that the Feast of Mercy emerged from his very depths of tenderness; and mankind will not have peace until it turns to the fount of his mercy.  Jesus says that the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened and let no soul fear to draw near to him, even though one’s sins be very serious because the Feast of Mercy emerged from the very depths of his tenderness.

Secondly, all of us would be quick to affirm the mystery of faith. Still, that does not mean that we do not go through periods of doubt like the apostle Thomas. It is quite normal for people to doubt, in fact, it is part of the human condition. It is normal for all of us to question ourselves. At times, it is normal for us to question the depth of our faith. I really do not believe that a person with doubts loses faith, rather searches for faith. Maybe we can understand this better if we consider two of the ways that doubt enters our lives.

First of all, most of us entered into periods of doubt as we grew up.  A pre-teen or teen might question a religion teacher. How do I know that God exists?  There is another type of doubt that is far more difficult to deal with. That is the doubt that enters our lives when things go very wrong. It is one thing to be a person of faith when all is wonderful in our lives. It is another thing to have faith when a loved one gets sick or dies, or when we are afflicted with a serious illness, or when our life plans are destroyed by the malicious actions of another. It was easy for the Disciple Thomas to believe in Jesus when he experienced healing. And it was very difficult for him to believe when his own world appeared to fall apart on Good Friday. Thomas doubted the Resurrection because he could not get pass the crucifixion.

Doubting is part of the human condition. It will exist in all our lives to some extent or other until the time that we see our God face to face. At that time the whole concept of doubt will be pointless. But until then, we recognize our humanity and we humbly ask God to admit us as we are, human beings with human limitations, into his divinity. Faith is a gift that God promises will be given to all who seek it. When Doubting Thomas made his act of faith, Jesus responded, “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen but believe.” Jesus was talking about us. He was calling us blessed because we have often taken a leap of faith and left the limitations of the physical for the infinite gifts of the spiritual. Remember Thomas had an experience of the Resurrected Jesus. We only have an experience of an empty tomb. We have not seen, but we believe. Maybe that is why Pope St. John Paul II declared that the Sunday that we reflect on doubts and faith should also be the Sunday that we recognize the overwhelming Divine Mercy of the Lord in the Eucharist we receive and the word we hear.

 

“Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth, alleluia.”