TOUCHED BY MERCY.
April 24, 2022
Second Sunday of Easter - Sunday of Divine Mercy - C.
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are
forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:23)
A German proverb says: “God forgives sinners, otherwise His
heaven would be empty.” And a Dutch proverb adds: “The noblest vengeance is to
forgive.”
On the 2nd Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the Mercy of God,
the overpouring love that forgives sinners and raises unto faith the
unbelievers. For, on the wood of the Cross, when he was dying, the Lord Jesus
washed away our sins with his blood and the water that poured from his pierced
heart. It was an act of mercy. After his resurrection from the dead, he showed
himself to his disciples and made them the instruments of that same mercy.
Nevertheless, some of his followers who have not yet made a personal encounter
with the Risen Lord are still closed in unbelief and skepticism. A personal
encounter is what is needed to open them unto faith.
Many of us, Christians, are like Thomas, people who need signs
before believing. Caught into the empiricism of this world, we only believe in
things that are tangible, touchable, and palpable. What is out of control or
beyond our senses is not accepted. But, in his great mercy, God kindles our
faith, shows us his grace, and helps us grasp and rightly understand the
mystery we celebrate in the resurrection of his Son.
Faith and Mercy are the two main points of today's
celebration and Easter mystery. “Faith is the theological virtue by which we
believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that
Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith
"man freely commits his entire self to God." For this reason the
believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by
faith." Living faith "work(s) through charity".” CCC 1814.
Pope St. John Paul II, in a catechesis on Divine Mercy,
said, "As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and
overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the Risen Lord offers
His love that pardons, reconciles, and reopens hearts to love. It is a love
that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand
and accept Divine Mercy!
Lord, who reveals the Father’s love by Your death and
Resurrection, we believe in You and confidently repeat to You today: Jesus, I
trust in You, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world." —St. Pope John
Paul II, Regina Caeli message prepared for Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3, 2005
The word of God, today, speaks of the experience we need to
make of God's mercy. It teaches us that mercy is a gift the Risen Lord makes to
poor sinners. In the first reading, Luke, in his historical book of the Acts
tells us that the signs and wonders the Apostles performed through the grace of
the Risen one brought many people to faith. A great number of people came to
believe in the Lord. This is a sign of joy to see people gained unto faith.
This, however, was because of the signs they have seen. Because, as sad as that
could sound, human beings are empiricists. We need signs, wonders, and miracles
before opening up to faith.
In the Gospel, another experience of skepticism and of need
of signs before faith, is that of Thomas. John reports that on the evening of
his Resurrection, the Lord appeared to his disciples, comforted them, brought
them peace, and gave them the Holy Spirit. One of the Twelve, however, was
absent. As says the dictum, "The absent are always wrong." When his
companions told him of their experience, Thomas, the big absent, raises his
doubts and set his conditions to open to faith: “Unless I see the mark of the
nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into
his side, I will not believe.”
Thomas is like you and me: Proof before faith. And so, the
occasion will be given to him to have his personal encounter with the Risen
Lord. Eight days after the first apparition, the Lord once again appears and
this time, Thomas is made the main actor in this self-revelation of Christ.
“Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my
side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” He wanted to touch. He is the
one who is touched and transformed. From skeptical, he is made believer: “My
Lord and my God!” Thomas is brought to confess his faith and deep trust in the
Risen Lord, "Jesus, I trust in You."
We too, like Thomas, are invited today to trust in the Lord
and announce to others that his Resurrection is a truth and great news for us
all. He is risen to lead us into the heart of God, into his mercy. As St. John
Paul II could question, "What is mercy if not the boundless love of God,
who confronted with human sin, restrains the sentiment of severe justice and,
allowing Himself to be moved by the wretchedness of His creatures, spurs
Himself to the total gift of self, in the Son’s cross …?
Who can say that he is free from sin and does not need God’s
mercy? As people of this restless time of ours, wavering between the emptiness
of self-exaltation and the humiliation of despair, we have a greater need than
ever for a regenerating experience of mercy." —St. Pope John Paul II,
Regina Caeli message, April 10, 1994
We all are sinners in need of the loving touch of God's mercy. We all need purification and restoration into faith. We all need the singular experience of Thomas, but also that of John the Apostle at Patmos. An experience that will change all our lives and make us missionaries of God's mercy and love. Today, let's fall at the feet of the Risen Lord and say our act of faith: Jesus, I trust in You... You are my Lord and my God!
Comments
Post a Comment