Today we celebrate the Octave Day of Easter, which also happens to be the Feast of Divine Mercy. The concept of Divine Mercy of course, dominates the liturgy during the whole year. The choice of the First Sunday after Easter, which ends the Octave of the Lord’s Resurrection, indicates the close connection which exists between the Easter mystery of Redemption and the Feast of Divine Mercy. Why? Because the passion, death and resurrection of Christ are the greatest expressions of God’s mercy toward men.
The first time Our Lord Jesus spoke about the desire to institute the Feast of Divine Mercy to Saint Faustina, was in Plock in 1931, when he conveyed his wishes concerning the painting of an image of the Merciful Jesus. “I want a Feast of Mercy, I want this image which you have painted, to be solemnly blessed on the First Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of my Mercy. I desire that all priests proclaim this great Mercy of mine toward souls of sinners on this day.” In the following years He repeated this demand in no less than fourteen revelations to Saint Faustina, defining this Feast in the liturgical calendar; the reason and the purpose for its establishment, and the way to prepare for its celebration. Christ the Lord did not limit his generosity in giving us this Feast for he told us that He is pouring a whole sea of graces on the souls who will approach the fount of His Mercy. Even if their sins be as scarlet. On April 30th, 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter was officially designated as the Sunday of the Divine Mercy in the General Roman Calendar. One of the prayers to the Divine Mercy is an act of faith
“Jesus, I trust in you.” Our Gospel today not only mirrors this act of faith but also speaks of the authority given to the apostles and through them to our priests to forgive sins and dispense God’s Divine Mercy to the faithful.
As usual, the first two readings for this Sunday vary according to the three-year cycle , but the Gospel is the same every year, and comes from John. It’s fair to say that this portion of John’s Gospel is absolutely indispensable. It tells of two appearances of the resurrected Lord, the first taking place in the evening of the first day — “the first day of the week” — the empty tomb was discovered, the second “a week later.” The two accounts are really one, for the first appearance took place when Thomas “one of the Twelve” was absent, the second, “a week later” when he was present. But this is not an insignificant detail, Thomas’ twofold reaction, first disbelief in his companions’ testimony: “We have seen the Lord!” Then the personal avowal of faith: “My Lord and my God!,” connect these two stories of the only “official,” so to speak appearances of the risen Lord to all the apostles. (John reports Mary Magdalene’s discovery of the empty tomb and the Lord’s later appearance to her, as well as Peter and the other disciple running to the tomb to verify the fact. But it is only ‘on that evening of that first day” and “a week later” that the disciples see the risen One together.). They end with a saying of the Lord that holds true for all believers: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” And last but not least this passage is the conclusion of the Fourth Gospel, written so that we might believe and, through faith, that we might have eternal life.
As hinted at in the Gospel readings on Easter Sunday, John, in writing the final pages of his Gospel, had one very definite goal: to define paschal faith, to show how the “eyes of faith” allow the human eye to perceive hidden truths. This Sundays Gospel tells all believers how one can believe without having seen with the eyes of flesh, and Jesus’ words— “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” — assure us that our condition compares anything but unfavourably to that of the first witnesses of the resurrection: like us, not without hesitation and difficulty, they had to go beyond immediate experience, moving from “seeing” to “believing.” Eight days after the celebration of Easter, this Gospel is like an icon to be kept in the forefront of one’s awareness throughout the fifty days of Easter.
The disciples found themselves gathered together in a locked room, having carefully bolted all the doors for fear of the Jews. Suddenly, “Jesus came in and stood among them.” Before the disciples had time to react, he said, “Peace be with you.” No longer was he a man bound by physical laws. He belonged to no “place.” He appeared in a locked room that no-one could have entered except by breaking down the doors. He it was, with nail marks in his hands and the lance wound still visible in his side. But he appeared in a wholly new state which shall belong to him forever: He is the Living One seated at the right hand of the Father. Transfigured, freed from the constraints of his mortal body, he can appear anywhere: no obstacle, no locked doors can prevent him from “coming.” As he promised he did not leave us orphans. He left, but only for our benefit. Resurrected, he brought to his own the peace he promised them, the peace that only he could give, and with it the good news. The. Disciples then had to proclaim to all the people.
Sending his disciples as the Father had sent him, the risen Christ, after showing them his hands and his side breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Theirs, now, was the mission to bring salvation into the world. He gave them authority to forgive sins “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Here, they now have the authority to dispense the Divine Mercy of God. At this meeting the disciples stood speechless but “rejoiced at seeing the Lord.” One couldn’t imagine a more solemn, yet serene and gentle scene. By his presence alone, the risen one awakened his disciples faith. They had locked themselves in a room for fear of the Jews, i.e.. Those of them who had condemned Jesus: suddenly they found themselves comforted, overflowing with great joy. They had not yet understood the scripture that “Jesus had to rise from the dead” But here, and now, they saw him before them, and their eyes were opened to faith. After earlier verifying that the tomb where the Lord had been laid was empty, with the shroud lying on the ground and the head wrapping “rolled up in a separate place,” two of them Peter and John had returned home perplexed: now they heard the risen Christ opening up a new future and imposing a mission on them, it belonged to all of them to continue the work of salvation undertaken by the Lord in the forgiving of sins. It is at once so simple and so grand that the evangelist need add nothing else. What point would there be in more details? It is not the length of the appearance that matters, but its inexpressible intensity. Why could he have not reported the disciples reactions? Because there was no necessity — The only things that belong here are silence and adoration.
Nevertheless, contemplation cannot ignore the duty of witnessing. Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not there when Jesus came. When he showed up, the others told him: “We have seen the Lord!” His answer was “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.”
Of course, the evangelist does not tell us about Thomas to present him as a sceptic, and example to avoid. Nor does he present him as a man who will believe nothing without proofs. Quite wrongly is he given the title doubting Thomas. On the one hand, the Gospel tells us that every one of the disciples first reacted to the announcement of the resurrection with incredulity or doubt. On the other hand, John specifically says that Jesus showed the disciples his wounds: the stigmata of the passion proved that it was really the crucified one standing there in their midst. Thomas’ request—to probe the nail marks with his finger and to put his hand into Jesus’ side — fits very well with this. The appearance “a week later” follows the same pattern as the first, with Jesus appearing in the room despite the locked doors, but this time Thomas was there, who was now invited to experience the proofs that it is really he, the risen Lord: “Thomas, put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand, put it into my side, doubt no longer but believe. Thomas replied. ‘My Lord and my God.”’ “You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
In his first letter, John, who insists on the identity of the Word and Jesus, the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God writes: “This is what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and touched with our hands [concerning] the word of life.” At the end of his Gospel he will proclaim just as strongly the reality of the resurrection, the identity of the crucified and resurrected. Faith and grace have given supernatural keenness to the senses of God’s chosen witnesses. Thus they could “see”with their eyes and “touch” with their hands the body of the risen Lord. This is why their witness is definite and irrefutable. “Do not be unbelieving, but believe” is more of an exhortation than a reproach, and the Lord addresses it to each one of us. Moreover, John concludes this passage and his whole Gospel by declaring — “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through belief you may have life in his name.”
Yes, happy are we who can say, like Thomas, “My Lord and my God” because although we have not seen, yet, we believe, yes, we believe on the witness of those apostles who did see. But if we believe that Christ is living, it is NOT ONLY because reliable witnesses have seen, however important, indeed essential, their witness may be, what is more crucial is our personal acknowledgement of the risen Lord, an act that transcends all proofs, all logic. Each of us can enumerate his or her own reasons for believing, but in the end, we must admit that not one of them is the reason for our faith. For this is a precious gift given to us by God. On this Feast of Divine Mercy, the Octave of the Easter season we pray:
“Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is love and mercy itself. Amen.
