4/3/2016 – Divine Mercy Sunday – 2nd Sunday of Easter – John 20:19-31

     On the Second Sunday of Easter of the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass for the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, Pope John Paul II proclaimed to the world that “from now on throughout the Church this Sunday will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.”  Since we have been celebrating the Jubilee Year of Mercy as declared by Pope Francis, the mercy of our Lord has certainly been front and center in our lives of faith in recent months, which makes our celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday today even more meaningful and more profound. 

     As I thought about God’s mercy and how we are supposed to live out that mercy in our lives and show that mercy to others, I thought about a story I heard regarding the French emperor Napoleon.  There was a young soldier in Napoleon’s army who was facing execution for deserting his post in a battle. With great persistence, the soldier’s mother secured an audience with Napoleon in order to try to save her son’s life.  However, Napoleon refused to remove the sentence of death that had been issued for this young solider. Napoleon explained to the distraught mother:  “Your son deserted his post and left others to die.  Justice demands that your son pay for his cowardice with his life.”  The mother pleaded with Napoleon: “Your excellency, I do not ask for justice.  I ask for your mercy.”  Napoleon replied:  “Your son does not deserve mercy.  He must pay for his crimes.”  The mother responded: “Your excellency, if my son deserved mercy, it would not be called mercy.”  With that, Napoleon pardoned the son, saving his life.

      This desperate mother had no idea what response she would get when she approached Napoleon.  I am sure she trusted in her faith in God and hoped for the best.  In many ways, today’s celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday is rooted in trust and in hope.  As disciples of Christ, we are called to place our trust in God’s mercy – that trust is essential in receiving the graces that God wants us to have on our journey of faith.  Indeed, devoting a Sunday to God’s Divine Mercy during the Easter season, when we reflect upon the meaning of the risen Christ in our lives, is meant to strengthen our trust in God’s mercy. 

       In today’s Gospel from John, Thomas experiences the mercy of God in a very personal way.  Thomas has trouble believing.  He wants to believe, but he can’t quite get there.  Thomas does not believe it when the other apostles tell him: “We have seen the Lord”.  Thomas wants to see.  He wants to put his hands in the wounds on Jesus’ side, to be sure that this is really Jesus, his Lord and Savior.  Yet, Jesus does not get angry.  He does not close the door on Thomas, writing him off as an unbeliever, as being lost.  Jesus waits with patience and openness.  When Jesus appears to the disciples again behind the locked doors of their room, he goes directly up to Thomas and tells him:  Take your hand, put it in my hand, then put it in my side.  Touch my wounds. Touch and see so that you not be unbelieving, but rather that you believe, that it is really me, Jesus, and that I have been resurrected.  Thomas receives God’s mercy into his life, into his faith, into his doubts and unbelief.  And with great grace and humility and poverty of heart, Thomas is able to respond to the mercy of God in the way all of us should respond.  His response of “My Lord and my God” is simple, yet full of faith.  Thomas opens his heart.  He trusts.  He believes.  He is a new man.  His faith has been renewed and has been re-energized.

      We can take our faith for granted.  We can take God’s mercy for granted.  Yet, God is always there waiting for us with his love and mercy.  Divine Mercy Sunday celebrates the merciful love of God shining through the Easter Triduum of the death and resurrection of our Lord and the whole Easter mystery.  Actually, today’s feast recovers an ancient liturgical tradition, reflected in the teachings of St. Augustine in which he called the Octave of Easter “the days of mercy and pardon.”  The image of the Divine Mercy of Jesus that we know so well comes from a vision that Sister Faustina in 1931. Her vision shows Jesus in a scene from today’s Gospel, with miraculously appearing there in the Upper Room and bestowing on the Apostles the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. His hand is raised in blessing, he shows them His wounds, and he looks for their trust.  Two translucent rays, one white and one red, are coming from Jesus’ hand in this image.  The red ray symbolizes the blood of Jesus – the divinity of Jesus -  and the white ray symbolizes water – his humanity.  The whole image of the Divine Mercy is symbolic of the charity, forgiveness and love of God.  On this image is contained this inscription:  “Jesus, I trust in you.”  May we always trust in Jesus.  May we always be merciful like the Father.