Divine Mercy Sunday

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, at St. Mary of Sorrows, Fairfax Station.

Two years ago, in a decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship, our Holy Father stated that "throughout the world, the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that humankind will experience in the years to come."

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, and we focus our attention on God’s endless mercy, revealed above all in His Son and Our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in His dying and rising.
Divine Mercy is so clearly proclaimed in today’s sacred Scriptures, and is so profoundly needed by today’s world. For example, the country of Jesus’ earthly life is wracked with violence and death. Attacks are carried out throughout the world to instill terror and fear, and cause suspicion between neighbors. How is peace to reign in our world? What does Jesus teach us about responding to assaults on human dignity and innocence? First, that God can heal and set us free, and secondly, that justice, mercy and prayer are integral components to bringing about true peace.

We look to Jesus Christ, who fully reveals to us who we are. He is our model. In the Gospel account, the disciples are described as discouraged and afraid: "the doors were locked." Into their midst came the Risen Jesus, speaking "peace" — the fullness of God’s goodness. Yes, they had run away when He needed them most. Yes, their leader St. Peter had denied knowing Jesus — three times! Yes, they deserved a reprimand, a rebuke! But, God is rich in mercy. Revealing this mercy, Jesus came, not to rebuke them, but to renew them. He spoke not harsh words of condemnation, but words of peace and forgiveness — He showed them mercy! In fact, He commissioned these disciples to go forth in His name and to be instruments of His Mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, giving them the Holy Spirit to be the very source of their ministry of mercy.

Writing to disciples caught up in persecution for bearing witness to the Truth, St. Peter reminds them that "in his great mercy [God] gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" — a hope that leads to eternal life.

The beautiful "snapshot" of the early Church given us in the Acts of the Apostles shows the disciples living out divine mercy in their communal life, in their prayers, in the breaking of the bread — another name for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice — and in their care for those in need.

Yes, today’s three scripture readings proclaim God’s Mercy so clearly as this Mercy is revealed in Jesus and in His other presence in the world, His Body, the Church, the "community of disciples," as Pope John Paul II is fond of calling the Church.