4.16.23 Gospel Meditation

On Divine Mercy Sunday, Jesus reveals the good news of his mercy and invites us to trust in him.

Between 1931 and 1938, Jesus appeared in Poland to Sister Faustina Kowalska revealing to her that he wanted her to tell the whole world how much he wanted to show mercy to sinners. At the urging of her superiors, Sister Faustina kept a diary of her conversations with our Lord which was eventually published under the title, Divine Mercy in My Soul.

In one appearance, Jesus asked that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” Jesus told Sister Faustina, “On the day of my feast, the feast of mercy, you will go through the world and bring fainting souls to the spring of my mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them” (Divine Mercy in My Soul #206).

And so, on April 30, 2000, Saint John Paul II honored our Lord’s request by declaring that the first Sunday after Easter would be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. Today’s gospel is especially fitting for this celebration.

If anyone was in need of mercy, it was Thomas. He wasn’t present when the Risen Jesus revealed himself to the other apostles. Because he didn’t see Jesus with his own eyes, he refused to believe.

The gospels do not tell us where Thomas was or what he was doing on that first Easter Sunday.

However, he was most likely walking the streets of Jerusalem listening to people talking about Jesus’ crucifixion. Some would have been saying how unjust it was. Others would have laughed at Jesus and his followers for believing in such nonsense. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, the trauma of Jesus’ death was afflicting Thomas’ mind and heart. His spirit was crushed. He didn’t want to believe anymore.

Doesn’t this also describe the situation so many people find themselves in? We live in a time when people’s spirits are crushed. We experience much evil, deception, and cruelty in the world. Everywhere we turn we hear different opinions. We don’t know who to believe and begin to wonder what is true. We doubt, and like Thomas, we stray from the source of all truth — the Risen Christ and his Church. The longer we stay away, the deeper the roots of doubt sink within us. Eventually, we begin to lose hope.

That was the situation Thomas found himself in. He just could not bring himself to believe anymore. His heart was too broken.

How does Jesus react? Does he abandon Thomas to his fear and doubt? No. In his mercy, He appears to Thomas to relieve him of his burden of doubt, to heal his broken heart and to restore his faith.

That is what Jesus wants to do for us on Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus came to save sinners. He died on the cross so that all of us could find forgiveness. There is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it. And no one is so sinful that he or she cannot turn to Jesus and through his grace become a great saint. Jesus said as much to us through Sister Faustina when he said: “The greater the sinner, the more right he has to my mercy” (Divine Mercy in My Soul #723) All we need to do is reach out to touch the wounds of our Risen Lord, and we will experience his infinite mercy.

—Douglas Sousa, S.T.L.

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 may not despair or become despondent,
But with great confidence subject ourselves
To your holy will,
Which is love and mercy itself.
Amen.

(Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1570)