“Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn. 20:28)
Today, the Second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, we complete our Divine Mercy Novena and we end the Octave of Easter. It is a day to celebrate and a day to pray for God’s mercy. I have offered each of the days of the Novena for the prescribed intentions, but my intention for the whole Novena is a deeper conversion of faith among my parishioners, family, and friends. Jesus promised to St. Faustina great blessings would be poured out on those who have devotion and promote devotion to His Divine Mercy.
The passage from John’s Gospel began, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you” (Jn. 20:19). We’re encountering much fear and many locked doors these days. And yet, Jesus can pass through these locked doors and bring His peace into the midst of fear. There is nothing to fear when we rely on God’s mercy.
Thomas was not with the others when Jesus appeared. He refused to believe, unless he saw the marks of the nails and the wound in Christ’s side. Thomas was afraid and his fear led to doubt. Jesus passed through that fear and doubt, and He prompted one of the most profound exclamations in all of Scripture,”My Lord and my God” (Jn. 20:28). Can there be any doubt as to the identity of Jesus? He is Our Lord and Our God! He is the one who passes through locked doors to find us, and He is the one who allows us to place our shaking hands into the wounds of his hands and side.
Now, you may say, ‘He passed through locked doors for the apostles and He showed them His hands and side, but does He really do that for us as well?’ Today, we can see quite easily one way in which Jesus passes through locked doors via modern media communications. Through television and the internet, the Word enters our homes and dwells amongst us. We must be grateful for these means of receiving Christ, and yet, in the midst of receiving Him into our homes through these technologies, His wounds should be all the more evident to us, because His Body, the Church, is torn apart. We are meant to be gathered together to worship Him in the Church, but we are separated. The Body of Christ is most perfectly manifest in the solemn celebration of the Eucharist, with the presence and participation of all the faithful. Despite Christ being able to enter our homes via modern technology, we must still see the wounds and long for them to be healed.
There are many wounds in the Body of Christ, and sin is the cause of Christ’s wounds. As we continue this time in the desert, this time of purification, it should become more evident to us where the deepest wounds are in the Body of Christ. In our examination of our own conscience, we should become more aware of the ways that we have failed to live as Christ commands and the ways that we have wounded His Body. This is a profound opportunity to pray for God’s mercy. Jesus said to St. Faustina, “My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners…[I]t is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy” (Diary, 357).