Year C

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

► Text of Sunday Reflection

“My Lord and my God”
by Fr Dan Carroll SDB

Since the birth of Adam and Eve God has been revealing himself to humanity bringing hope, joy, peace and consolation. Through Jesus He revealed himself as ‘Father’. Jesus was constantly on the move bringing hope, healing, new life, forgiveness, peace and freedom to people wherever he met them. In everything he did and said, Jesus was revealing the Father’s mercy.

In the Gospel passage for the Second Sunday of Easter, the Feast of Divine Mercy, Jesus appeared to his disciples on the evening of the first day of his resurrection. They were in a closed room full of fear. He greeted them with the words ‘Peace be with him’. They were transformed but one disciple, Thomas was missing. When Thomas returned he could not believe what he was told. The crucifixion had profoundly wounded Thomas and he now doubted Jesus.

But Jesus was patient with Thomas and he appeared to the disciples again, a week later. Thomas was present and Jesus invited him to put his fingers into the wounds in his hands and side. Thomas believed and acknowledged who Jesus was with the words ‘My Lord and my God’. Thomas was now wrapped in God’s mercy and he was a new person.

Unbelief had overcome Thomas but the wounds of Jesus healed him. Jesus teaches us that Divine mercy is much stronger than our unbelief or misery.

The Feast of Divine Mercy reminds us that all life – peace, joy, forgiveness, hope, courage, generosity and charity come from God.

No matter where we are or what we have done, God is waiting lovingly for us.

He left the banquet he gave to celebrate the return of the prodigal son to enter into the darkness of the elder son and offer him all that he had.

He protected the woman caught in adultery and gave her new life.

He looked at Peter lovingly after Peter had had betrayed him 3 times. His gaze transformed Peter who wept and repented.

Jesus is always waiting for us – even when we have left him behind. Our task is to be able to receive Jesus and give him the freedom and permission to shower his mercy upon us, and, like Thomas, be transformed.

► Readings, Reflections & Prayers

Scripture readings: Association for Catholic Priests
– www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie
Reflections and Prayers by Fr Jack Finnegan SDB

1st Reading – Acts 5:12-16

Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

Reflection

Our reading from Acts shows us the power of Christ working in the development of the early faith community: and women are specifically mentioned. It reminds us that it is God who adds new members to the Church. We are reminded that we are members of the community of the redeemed, people whose lives have been lovingly embraced and transformed by divine mercy. We are reminded that the early faith community lived in increasingly hostile times which they faced in the light of the resurrection. They gathered for prayer. They cared for those in need. They did not forget the Jewish origins of their faith in Jesus. These are the things that those who are alive in Christ do. How can we embrace divine mercy, how can we proclaim Jesus is Lord if we do not pray and reach out to those in need? How can we change the world if we are not alive in Christ?

Prayer

Abba Father, draw new members to your Church today. Touch people everywhere with your amazing love and mercy! Let streams of mercy seize the world! Inspire Christians to be genuine witnesses to your love for all people everywhere. Help us when we stumble. Catch us when we fall. Shelter us when the storms of opposition blow. Guide our steps in faith. Touch all of us with the light of the resurrection! Guide our steps in faith. Make us caring people. Make us a people of true prayer. Make us alive in Christ, true channels of mercy flowing into the whole world. As we gather in your glorious Name hear our songs of praise today! Make your beauty visible in our lives! In Jesus’ Name. Amen. Alleluia!

Psalm 118:1-4, 22-27

Reflection

Psalm 118, a psalm of thanksgiving, has been called the Easter Psalm because of its links to Temple festival and celebration (see verse 27). More to the point for Divine Mercy Sunday, the poet has personally experienced God’s saving grace. That is how he is able to repeatedly assure us that God’s loving mercy endures forever. The line becomes his poem’s refrain. We are also reminded that the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. And then we sing, This is the LORD’s doing! This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! And our response to Divine Mercy? Songs of praise, songs of blessing on God and the Risen Christ. Songs of gratitude for mercy. Songs full of the fire of the Holy Spirit! Can we declare with the poet: the Lord is for me; I am not afraid?

Prayer

LORD, Adonai, Teruwah! Alleluia! Your love endures forever! Your loving mercy knows no end! It lasts forever! The stone rejected is the cornerstone! The rejected Crucified One is the Saviour! How awesome your plan! How glorious your love! We bless you! We praise you! We glorify your Name! You make your light shine on us and shower us with loving grace! And so we lift up our hands in praise and rejoice in festal celebration in your House today! How wonderful your salvation! How wonderful your love! Hear our shouts of joy! Hear our glad songs of thanks! Loving God, may all living beings delight in you forever! May you be praised forever and ever! May your praise fill the cosmos! Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

2nd Reading: Apocalypse 1:9-13, 17-19

I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.

Reflection

Set in Western Turkey, John’s vision takes place in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. It occurs at a time when Christians were hated in the Roman Empire. Against that background we can all the better understand the amazing way Jesus is depicted in today’s reading. John’s vision of the Glorified One underlines the awesome wonder of Christ in heaven. Look at the picture of the seven churches – the seven lampstands. Meditate on the glorious Jesus standing in their midst dressed like the great High Priest. Notice his glowing feet and the transforming invitation they offer us to repent and share his life-changing holiness. Notice the stars and the keys and the sword. The stars depict the angels of the seven churches while the keys are a symbol of Christ’s authority. The sword tells us that Christ protects his people. Listen to John: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” Fall at his feet! Be open! Let mercy flow!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, your mercy is without end! One Sabbath our brother John was drawn into the Spirit. He saw you dressed like a High Priest standing among seven golden lampstands holding seven stars in your hands. Your voice was like a trumpet to his ears, or whispering water, singing a message to the seven Churches of his day. Like him we fall prostrate before you. Place your hand on us too, today. Remind us that you are the First and the Last. You are the Living One, the Risen Glorified One, the Merciful Holder of the Keys! Your face is radiant with the light of God’s loving mercy! Embrace us in your loving mercy today and bless us as we honour your Name. Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

Gospel Reading: 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.

Reflection

The story of Doubting Thomas is always read on the second Sunday of Easter. This is the day (the first day of the week) Jesus appeared again to the apostles and Thomas. Thomas was absent the first time when Jesus breathed his gift of peace upon them and stubbornly refused to believe their testimony. He wants to see and touch Jesus for himself! He wants to touch Jesus’ wounded body before he believes! The story focuses our attention on what happens when Thomas’s desire is answered! He asked for the impossible and was granted it! He abandons his doubt and proclaims Jesus as his Lord and God! The same invitation is offered to us today: Do not be faithless but believing. How will we respond? Just as Jesus recognised Thomas in all his doubt and need, he recognises us as we too stand in need of his understanding and mercy. Will we recognise Jesus just as he recognises us? Will we, like Thomas, open ourselves to the gifts of the Risen Lord—peace, joy, the Spirit and forgiveness? Will we remember that the Risen One is the Crucified One? Will we remember that the Risen One is real? Are we open to becoming a new creation in the Risen Lord?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, sometimes it seems as if we walk in a fog, touched by doubts, troubled by confusing thoughts and feelings that arise unbidden. On such days the way seems unclear and our faith seems weak indeed. We experience Thomas moments, moments when we need the evidence of our own eyes, our own hands. You met Thomas’s desire and brought him home to faith. Meet us in similar ways. Help us when we walk in the fog. Help those who are lost in the mist. Breathe your peace into our hearts and minds. Touch us with the spirit of truth. Warm us with the soul of wisdom. Wrap us in your merciful love. Send your Spirit to us again. Believing, may we know that you are in truth the Messiah! May we sing of the fullness of life in your name! You are my Lord and my God! May we lift high your glorious name today! You are God’s living mercy in the cosmos. Now and forever. Amen. Alleluia!

► Lectio Divina

Today the gospel presents two scenes, and two themes, from the post-resurrection experience. On the evening of the day of Easter, Jesus appeared in the midst of his disciples. He overcame their isolation and their fears, giving them peace and a new mission, that of forgiving sins. When they got over their incredulity, he breathed on them his Spirit of new life. He made them new men with a new mission of forgiveness for all. Eight days later Jesus reappeared to overcome the incredulity of the disciple who, because he had not been there the first day, was unable to believe what the others told him. This second appearance of Jesus was intended, not just to bring the unbeliever to faith, but to praise those who believe without having to ‘touch’ the miracle. Even Thomas’s profession of faith, one of the best in all of Scripture, cannot be compared to the faith of those who believe in the Risen One without needing to see him. Anyone who really believes in the Resurrection cannot allow fear to keep him closed in on himself and his own problems. He has a task to perform in the world, a mission of pardon. To believe in the Risen Lord it is not necessary to see him alive. It is enough to believe that he is alive.

Read: understand what the text is saying, focussing on how it says it

The text gives an account of two meetings of the Risen Lord with his disciples.  Both took place in Jerusalem but not on the same day, and they do not serve the same purpose. What happened on the evening of resurrection day (20, 19-23) follows the pattern of other accounts of the Lord’s appearances – the unexpected presence of Jesus, joyful recognition by those who saw him, and a universal mission. The second appearance one week later (20, 24-29), develops a recurring motif – those who have not had a personal encounter with the Risen Lord find it difficult to believe. The community of believers and the individual believer were born in the same way, through an encounter with the Lord Jesus. When the Risen Lord appears to a group and confers on it a universal mission, the Church is born. When he makes himself known to a disciple and overcomes his incredulity, he transforms him into a believer.

The first account is therefore the ‘birth certificate’ of the Christian community. The Risen Lord confers his power, his Spirit, and his mission, the forgiveness of sins, on the group of disciples that he has chosen as his witnesses. The second account, on the other hand, dramatizes the individual journey to faith in the resurrection, of one who, not convinced by the testimony of his colleagues, had to see and touch the Risen Lord for himself. It would have been better if he had believed solely on the preaching of the apostles.

The first account is limited to a mere outline, but it is the more important. The Risen Jesus finds the group locked in the house and full of fear. The death of Jesus has filled his followers with anxiety.  There is clearly an apologetic motive – these terrified men would not have become courageous preachers if they had not had a real encounter with the Lord Jesus. The unexpected presence of Jesus in their midst restores their joy. The one sent by God, restored to life and now returned to the Father, entrusts a mission to his followers and sends them out (20,21: as the Father sent me, so am I sending you). The sending is an act of investiture and a sign of trust. The handing on of the task from Christ to his Christians makes them new men, they receive from the Risen Lord his life-giving breath and a mission which makes them new. The conviction that the resurrection experience is the origin of and the reason behind the Christian mission is to be found in the whole gospel tradition (Mk 16, 15-16; Mt 28, 19-20; Lk 24, 47; Acts 1,8). It is typical of John that he sees the mission of the Church as one of universal forgiveness of sins. The Christian community is the only place in the world where sin has no future.

The second episode is developed in more detail. It describes how a disciple arrives personally at faith in the resurrection. In this way John wanted to show that it was not the testimony of the disciples (20, 25) but the Risen One in person who guided his witnesses to faith in Him. He also shows, at the same time, that those who come later will not require a special intervention in order to believe. The testimony of the apostles will suffice. Thomas, one of the twelve (11, 6; 14,5) personifies the inability of the first disciples to accept the fact that Jesus had risen. This episode also highlights the difficulty facing the second generation of Christians who will have to believe without proof. Thomas was not with the others when Jesus came (20, 24).  His insistence on touching and seeing, on feeling with his own hands, in order to identify and believe (20, 25; 4,48. Lk 24, 37) is linked to the way he understood the final resurrection of our bodies. He did not see it as impossible, but he laid down conditions before he could believe. In reality, Thomas did not ask for anything more than what Jesus had already granted the other disciples (20, 20; 20,18.25). But it is one thing to receive the gift and quite another thing to demand it. Jesus gave him what he asked for in order to believe (20, 27) but he made no concession in his response. The further believers are removed from the events of the resurrection, the greater opportunity they have to be happy believers. That warning and that promise are directed to all who hear the gospel. It is possible to believe without touching and without proof.  And this is the faith that makes us happy.

Meditate: apply what the text says to life

John recalls what happened on the evening of that first day when Jesus, newly risen, had to lead his disciples out of their fear and doubt and convince them that he was really alive. That was the day when Christianity was born. Recalling today our origins, the moment of the founding of our faith and of our life in common, should lead us to rediscover the mission for which we, as Christians, were born.  There were two missionary tasks in particular given that day to those who knew that Jesus was alive. If we can make them our own, at a distance of two thousand years, it will guarantee that, with the Risen Lord, we too will discover the experience that is the basis of our Christian faith. This is our opportunity!

The first disciples were closed in their fears and in their homes, even though Jesus was already risen.  Fear of the Jews compelled them to stay together and to share their uncertainty. They were so alarmed by what had happened to Jesus that they could not imagine that God had already intervened on his behalf. Jesus had to present himself full of life and he gave them a task. He sent them into the world with his Spirit as viaticum – food for the journey – and forgiveness of sins as their mission. It was a strange mission to entrust to men who had run away from the world and could not hide their fear! They were filled with joy on seeing again the Lord for whom they had grieved, but it was the gift of his Spirit and the mandate to forgive sins that freed them from their fear and changed their lives.  Jesus breathed on them and created new possibilities in them. These men who had been unable to go out of the house for fear that they would die like their Lord and Master, were now transformed into fearless witnesses of his resurrection. In accepting the mission to bring pardon to the world that previously they had feared so much, they received the Spirit of the Risen Jesus. They also rose that day, to forgive the world!

Do we not see ourselves mirrored in those disciples who preferred to live, trapped by their fears, avoiding contact with a hostile environment, and by that very attitude running the risk of not meeting the Risen Lord, and losing the opportunity to regain their joy? We run the risk of becoming like those first disciples, and the risk of losing our enthusiasm and the joy of being Christians.  Jesus is alive! He is risen! As Christians we live to proclaim our faith in him, without fear or complexes. It is just not possible to know that Jesus is risen and live as if he were still dead. If we really believe that Jesus is alive, we have no right to remain silent, closing ourselves in our houses and running away from giving testimony. If we are silent about what we have experienced, we condemn Jesus to anonymity and we rob the world of God’s pardon.

We make the resurrection of Jesus useless if we cover up our faith and conceal our Christian life, and live as if the living one were dead. To know that he is alive for ever is the greatest joy for those who thought he was absent and dead. If we are certain of this, we will never be discouraged by the hostility of the environment or the apparent absence of the Lord. We know that we can count on the Spirit of the Risen Lord and we can face those who look down on us because of our faith.

And not only that: the witnesses of the Risen Jesus know that they are sent into a hostile world with the precise task of pardoning it. Jesus is risen to a new life without end. He has conquered sin and death, hatred and division. For this very reason, his witnesses cannot limit themselves to proclaiming him by word. They have to perform new deeds, and there is nothing more new, more life-giving, more divine than the offer of universal forgiveness.

The Christian who cannot forgive is not a living witness of the resurrection. It does not matter what evils the world may have caused him, because his capacity for forgiveness does not depend on the evil suffered but on the mandate of Jesus and the gift of his Spirit.

The pardon we succeed in giving and the peace we restore will be the best proof of the resurrection of Jesus. If there is one thing needed in our world, in our society and in our hearts, it is to live reconciled, inwardly at peace, healed in the very depth of our being. Only the Christian, certain as he is that Jesus is alive, can count on the power and the duty to forgive others. If we Christians today do not take seriously the mission given us by the Risen Jesus, we lose not only his Spirit but also the very reason for our being in the world.

If, wherever there exists a Christian, there is not a reason for peace among men, a step towards reconciliation, a renewed offer of forgiveness, then Jesus has risen in vain. Perhaps what happened to Thomas is happening to us. He could not believe that Jesus was alive because he had not seen him personally.  We feel a certain sympathy for this apostle who wanted to touch with his hands in order to believe with his heart! His incredulity is familiar to us and we remember it because of the “reproof” he received from Jesus. And even though Thomas expressed a most beautiful and sincere formula of faith, “My Lord and my God,” Jesus very quickly told him that it is better to believe without seeing than to profess faith after being given proof.

To be witnesses of Jesus in the world, knowing that we have been sent to bring pardon, it is not important to have seen him, but to know that he is alive. Bringing peace and reconciliation is the practical and effective way of believing in the resurrection of Jesus. We will know that Jesus is alive without needing to touch his risen body, and we will feel in our hearts his life-giving breath, if we live by the pardon we have received and if we give life through deeds of reconciliation among men. The Christian who has used his hands to pardon has no need to touch the Risen Lord. He lives by his Spirit and for his mission. Nothing else is needed in order to believe. Happy are we if we know that Christ is alive. We live at peace in ourselves and we bring peace to the world!

Pray: desire that what you have heard be done in you

Lord, when you came among your disciples after your resurrection, you gave them your peace and your Spirit, and you sent them to the world. From this encounter your Church was born and the world had someone to bring pardon. Come to us again, Lord, for the world still needs forgiveness and we need the joy of knowing that you are alive. Come to us again, Lord, for we are closed in our fears and in our silence. Fill us with your Spirit and send us again to bring pardon. Our world today has great need of pardon and peace, and the Church has need of your Spirit.

We continue, like Thomas, to want to touch to be able to trust you, to see you alive and to know that you are risen. Allow me to cling to you so that I may not fall under the weight of my doubts. Touch my heart and make me believe. Never allow me to stop living in the community of the apostles, even if I am imprisoned by my fears. In whatever situation I find myself, fill me with peace and with your Spirit. And if I am not there when you come, come back again and find me, my Lord and my God.