The Gospel Of Mercy

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this Solemnity of Divine Mercy Sunday let us consider St. Faustina who was one of the greatest mystics of our time.  She was the third of ten children who lived in Poland in between two world wars and had a deep piety and willingness to sacrifice for God even as a child.   By the time she was seven which was two years before her First Communion she knew that God was calling her to be a religious.  She had not even three years of school before her parents had to send her to another town to work and help support the family.

By the time she was twenty Christ told her that she was to enter a convent; she tried many but the only one to accept her was the Sisters of Divine Mercy in Warsaw.  Her parents greatly opposed this decision.  And even after a few weeks there Sister Faustina thought that it was the wrong place until Jesus told her this was the place where he would give her many graces.  Her mission to bring this fundamental idea of God’s Mercy to the world was revealed to her in 1931 and Pope John Paul II made this a reality for the whole Church in the Jubilee Year of 2000.

St. Faustina always had a great love for the one who was suffering and showed awesome compassion for them.   One of the sisters in the convent was about to do something stupid and Faustina told the Lord to allow her the pain of one of the thorns of his passion.  She suffered this unspeakable pain for three hours and the other sister resisted her temptation.

The gospel today, and every year on this Sunday, also shows the great mercy of Jesus Christ.  The apostles, ten of them at this point, are locked up in the upper room where they had their Passover celebration and Jesus appears to them despite the locked and chained doors.  He does not ask where did they go at the time of his passion or why did they not stay with him?  He only says: “Peace be with you!”  I don’t hold anything against you; I knew what you would do and I don’t judge you.

Then he “breathes” on them, which is the same verb that we hear in the creation story of Genesis.  What does it mean?  He recreates them; he breathes on them and makes them a new creation.  And he sends them as he was sent.  The word apostle means one who is sent, sent for a mission.  What are they to do?  They are being sent to show the mercy of God to the four corners of the world and to announce the forgiveness of sins.   This is done first of all by baptism and then later on by the sacrament of Penance.

I like the way the other apostles reach out to Thomas.  They don’t leave him alone and they know that he will return to them.  Christ does not go to the house of Thomas.  He appears to them when they are together as a community, a small church, and then he appears to Thomas and all of us.  Yes, you can pray in your room but Christ is more visible to you when you gather with others, when you are in the Church, which is the body of Christ.   It is very sad when you see people go for months and even years without hearing a Word of God for their lives.  How difficult their lives, their marriages become when they don’t hear God’s word for them.

It is ironic that the apostle who doubts also makes the strongest act of faith in the gospels.  No one else says to Jesus Christ that you are: My Lord and My God.  Often our doubts if we stay close to the community lead us to make a strong act of faith in Christ, to really believe that he exists and is helping me.

Blessed are those who have not seen and believe says Jesus in this gospel which was the original ending of this book.  He is talking to you and me.  Blessed are you who believe, who trusts in him.  This gospel is written so that you may believe, that you may have faith and that your faith will grow.  John says in his first letter that he speaks of what he has seen and heard and touched.  May you and I have the courage to do the same.

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