The Divine Mercy

 

 Most of us are aware that Our Lady has appeared many times over the past 200 years in places such as Lourdes and Fatima. What we may not be aware of is that, over that same period of time, Jesus has also appeared.

 One of his recent appearances took place less than one hundred years ago in Poland to a young woman named Faustina Kowalska. Between 1931 and 1938, Jesus revealed to her that she was chosen to spread the message of His Divine Mercy. He wanted her to tell the whole world how great His love was for mankind and that if we would only turn to Him we would experience forgiveness and limitless blessings. At the urging of her superiors and spiritual director, Sister Faustina kept a diary of her conversations with our Lord. They are available in a book entitled, Divine Mercy in My Soul.

 In one appearance, Jesus asked that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It would be a blessed day when sinners would find relief from their transgressions and grace to live holy lives. Jesus describes this feast to Sister Faustina in these words recorded in her diary: “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.”

And so, on April 30, 2000, Saint John Paul II honored our Lord’s request by declaring that the first Sunday after Easter be celebrated by the whole Church as Divine Mercy Sunday.

 We often hear people say, “If I walked into church, the ceiling would cave in.” There is nothing sadder that a person can say. It shows a total lack of trust in Jesus and His mercy. 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 they 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.

The God Of Mercy

If you had to explain who God is to someone who had never heard of Him before, what would you say? What words would you use to describe Him?

Would you say that He is all-powerful? Would you say that, although we cannot see Him, He is everywhere? Would you explain that He has no beginning and no end? Or would you point out how He created the world out of nothing?

All those would be good ways to start talking about God. However, those ideas would not fully capture who the God of Jesus Christ is. To explain God fully, we would have to start by saying that, above all else, He is merciful.

The word, “mercy”, describes love’s response to suffering. We can say that God is merciful because He identifies with those who suffer. He reaches out to those who are hurting, particularly sinners.

When we sin, God’s first thought is not about how much we have offended Him by breaking His commandments. He is not thinking, “How dare they sin against me.” Rather, His first instinct is to feel sorry for us because sin is harmful and separates us from His love. Because of His mercy, God’s first response is not how He is going to punish us but how He is going to save us.

We see God’s merciful love throughout the Bible. When Adam and Eve disobey Him, He promises to send a savior who will defeat the serpent who deceived them. When the devastating flood recedes, He promises Noah that He will not destroy the earth again. When He sees His people suffering under Pharaoh, He sends Moses to bring them to the Promised Land.

Jesus is the shining example of His merciful love. God sent His only Son to show us how far He was willing to go to free us from our sinfulness. By Jesus’ death and resurrection we find not only the forgiveness of our sins but the promise of eternal life. He extends this offer to each of us no matter how many sinful choices we have made in our lives. God is a merciful Father who always welcomes us back.

Today’s reading from the gospel of Saint John illustrates this beautifully. We see the disciples closed up in the upper room in Jerusalem. They are isolated by their fear of the authorities. They are also isolated by doubt, especially the doubt of Thomas who refuses to believe that Jesus is risen unless he can see Him with his own eyes. How does Jesus react to their fear and doubt? Does He keep His distance from them until they get their act together? Does He punish them? No. Instead He reaches out to them. Though the doors are locked because of doubt and fear, He reveals Himself to them -  and to Thomas in particular -  and invites them to believe. So great is Jesus’ mercy that He never fails to seek out the lost, the confused, the suffering and the sinner.

The merciful heart of Jesus should give us great confidence. We will always fall short of the demands of the gospel. In one way or another we will fail to love others as we should. However, no matter how many times we fall, we can always turn to Jesus for forgiveness. He never tires of seeking us out when we are lost and extending His hand in friendship to us. All we have to do is forget our pride and ask for the forgiveness we so desperately need.

Once we have received God’s mercy, it is then up to us to show mercy to others. If God has forgiven us, we must then forgive those who have hurt us. If God has so generously blessed us with material goods, we must then share them with others.

We see this in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The first believers were so moved by God’s love that they shared it freely with one another. They prayed together and shared their money, food and homes with each other. Recognizing that all they had comes from God, they were willing to give it away with the confidence that God in his mercy would continue to provide for them.

That is God’s dream for this parish community, that we receive His mercy and share it with others. He wants us to be so generous with what we have that there is no needy person among us. Then it will be clear how Jesus’ death and resurrection are making a difference in our world. Then God’s mercy will pour itself out from this altar and reach out to our larger community, extending the blessings of our Heavenly Father’s love.

On the first Sunday after Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. This beautiful feast is in response to a request which Jesus Himself made to Saint Faustina, a young Polish nun to whom He appeared in the early twentieth century. He desired that, on this day, we reflect on His infinite mercy and run to Him in our weakness and need.

In her diary, she records these words of Jesus:                                                        

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. (Diary, no. 699)

On this day, Jesus stretches out His arms to us. He begs us to return to Him to experience His tender forgiveness and to be forever changed by Him. Once we do, we can then extend the same mercy to others. Let us take advantage of the offer God makes to us this day so that we will know Him intimately as the Father of Mercy.

Asking Questions....Looking For Answers

Over the past few years, more and more books have come out promoting atheism, that is, the belief that God does not exist. For us who have an active faith life, it can seem impossible that anyone could possibly deny God's existence. However, the numbers of those who are unwilling or unable to believe in God are growing in size and influence.

  

Atheists are a small part of the overall population. Most people are searchers. They are not sure what or who to believe. They see the problems facing our world and wonder why a good God could allow so much injustice and suffering. At the same time, they see the beauty of nature and the basic goodness in people and can't help but believe that a good God must be responsible for it all. Their heart tells them that there must be something more to this world than what their eyes can see and what science can explain. They are ready to embrace the truth. They just are not sure where to find it.

That is where we come in. God has called each of us here for a reason. He has given us an active faith and a relationship with him so that we can reach out to those who are searching with the good news of Jesus' resurrection.

Today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the first community of believers. They are really the first parish founded by the apostles. As Saint Luke describes it, it is a community marked by deep love for one another. They shared everything they had so that none of them went hungry or homeless. Though the community of believers was experiencing rapid growth, no one was lost in the crowd or left out. All shared a sense of belonging and friendship because of their common faith in the Risen Lord.

In today's world, people long for community and to belong. Many of us live far from our extended families and childhood friends. Our work schedules and the technologies that surround us increasingly isolate us. We do not want to be another face in the crowd. We want to belong. We want to be missed when we don't show up. We want to be known and loved. This lonely world so often makes it difficult for people to believe and trust in a good God. 

If we, as disciples of Christ, are going to effectively spread the good news of his resurrection, then we must be a people marked by love as were the first community of believers. As a parish united by faith, we are called to welcome each other, to take care of each other and to testify to one another about the power of God at work in our lives. Most people come to know and believe in God by meeting someone who is filled with God's love. God wants to make this parish a family where people encounter his love and become convinced that he is real because of the goodness of our lives.

Up to this point we have been discussing those who are searching for God who do not come to Mass. But what about those here today who are themselves searching? What about us when we have doubts and question our faith? For those of us who continue to question and even doubt, we have a great friend in Saint Thomas. As the gospel tells us, Thomas was not present the first time that Jesus appeared to the disciples. When the disciples told him that the Lord was alive, he refused to believe. Thomas could have left the other disciples to head back to his hometown to resume the life he had before Jesus called him. Believing that Jesus was dead, he could have abandoned his faith altogether. But despite his doubts, Thomas continued to stay with the other apostles. And because he decided to stay rather than to leave, he was able to see the Risen Lord for himself. 

Thomas has much to teach us. There are times when we doubt and question our faith. At those times we are tempted to stop going to Mass or to leave the Church altogether. We might say to ourselves, "What's the use? I'm not being fed, and my prayers are not being answered."  But we need to keep showing up to the Eucharist just as Thomas kept showing up at the upper room. It might not be today, it might not be next week, but when Jesus is ready, he is going to reveal himself to us as he revealed himself to Thomas. We are going to hear the word which will answer the questions we have. In a time of quiet, something we have been struggling with will all of a sudden make sense. If we are going to find the answers we are searching for, then it will be here, in this place, among God's people and at the altar where bread and wine will become for us the Body and Blood of Christ.  

Asking questions and looking for answers are part of what it means to be human. God created us to be individuals who seek meaning and truth. While he put the questions in our hearts, he also provided an answer in his Son. Whatever it is we may seek - love, truth, meaning, purpose - it can all be found in Christ. And Christ can be found here. As it turns out, he is seeking us. No matter how tightly we may have closed the doors of our minds and hearts out of fear and doubt, he will reveal himself to us and offer us his gift of peace. Then we will know why we have been created and what our purpose on this earth is - to live with him forever in heaven

Limitless Mercy

Even at the tender age of 8 years old, there was nothing Juan Jose Martinez hated more than Christians in general and the Catholic Church in particular. 

His hatred was so great that he would stand out on the balcony of his house on Sunday mornings,  insulting people who were on their way to Mass and even spitting on them.

He would tell them that all the Church was doing was weighing them down with rules and  taking their money. To him, the Church was nothing more than an outdated institution which only existed to take advantage of the poor and ignorant. 

At school, he would try to talk his classmates out of going to religion classes, making fun of them for what he saw as silly superstitions.

Everything changed, however, in January 1995 when some of his classmates invited him to attend a charismatic prayer group. At first, he resisted the invitation, but then he decided to go so that he could make fun of his friends and the other people attending the service.

Since he had never been in a church before, it all seemed very strange to him. What first struck him, however, was the tabernacle. As he told Catholic News Service: “...they were all looking at the golden box at the back of the church. I didn’t know what it was, but I thought it was where the parish priest kept the money.”

If you are familiar with the charismatic style of prayer, you know that, at that prayer service, there were people praising God as loudly as they could and other people speaking in tongues. Juan Jose thought they were crazy and could not help but make fun of them.

At the same time, something inside made him want to return the next week.

As time went on, he began to see the Church in a different light. He appreciated what faith in God and a loving community meant to the people who attended that prayer service. Also, he grew to respect and admire the priest who spoke movingly about the Bible and the love of God.

Soon, he was beginning to not only attend the prayer service but to go to Sunday Mass. Little by little, the love of God was reaching his heart. As he explains it, “My eyes were being opened and I saw that God was not a legend or a story for the weak, but that he existed and that he was supporting and guiding me. I experienced that he loved me so much that he wanted me for himself and was calling me.”

Finally, he was at the point at which he wanted to be confirmed. At that service, he committed his life totally to the Lord saying, “I am yours for whatever you need.”

From that point on, Juan Jose began experiencing a call to the priesthood. His father was furious when he found out and went so far as to beat him telling him that he would be a priest only over his dead body. The father also said he would report the parish priest to the authorities for corrupting a minor.

It took some time, but his father eventually accepted his son’s vocation to the priesthood and he was ordained in 2006.

The story of Fr Juan Jose Martinez’s journey from atheism to the priesthood is a dramatic example of God’s mercy. No matter how far gone people may seem, God never stops trying to reach them and bring them home.

The story of Thomas in today’s gospel is also a story of mercy. Though Thomas refused to believe, Jesus nonetheless appeared to him. The loving mercy of Jesus is so great that he would not allow doubt to overcome Thomas but reached out to him so that he could believe that the Lord was truly risen. And, in response, Thomas utters the most resounding and profound acts of faith in all the gospels: “My Lord and my God.”

Just so, there is no one here today and no one outside of these walls who has sinned so greatly that God cannot reach him or her. There is no one whose heart is so hard that God cannot penetrate it. There is no one whose soul is so cold that God cannot warm it. God never gives up on anyone but is constantly hounding us until we turn to Him and ask for forgiveness. That tireless pursuit of the sinner and willingness to forgive any offense is the meaning of God’s Divine Mercy.

However, there is more to the story of mercy than accepting God’s offer of forgiveness. Once we turn back to our Heavenly Father, we must also practice mercy. Just as we have been forgiven, we must forgive others. Just as God has stooped down to serve us, we must serve others. Just as God has comforted us in our sorrow, we must turn and comfort our brothers and sisters.

This is what Fr Juan Jose Martinez did. He received mercy and then, in turn, became a priest so that he could be a minister of God’s mercy to others. It is also what Saint Thomas did. Once Jesus revealed Himself to him, he joined the other apostles in spreading the good news throughout the world.

Just so, we must spread the message of God’s love and mercy to everyone we meet. Like the classmates who invited young Juan Jose to that prayer meeting that changed his life, we must invite others to experience for themselves the loving mercy of God which we have encountered in Jesus Christ. If we do so with confidence and faith, then the good news of God’s Divine Mercy will spread throughout the world. And this world which is marked by so much doubt, injustice and violence can finally know peace through the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

(story taken from Blanca Ruiz in an article published by the Catholic News Agency, March 6,2017)

God's Unfailing Mercy

A good definition of “mercy” would be “love’s reaction to suffering”. Mercy is love reaching out to those who are hurting, to those who are in need, to those who are alone.

Other words we might use for mercy are “compassion”, “sympathy”, “pity” and “kindness”.

God is love, and mercy is one of His most beautiful attributes. Out of love, our Heavenly Father stoops down to those who most need His help.

Both the Old and New Testaments are replete with stories of God’s mercy on those who fear Him.

When the flood had devastated the earth, God hung a rainbow in the sky as a promise that He would never destroy His creation. When His people were languishing in slavery, He freed them from the power of the pharaoh. As they wandered through the desert, He fed them with manna from  heaven and water from a rock. He led them into the land He had promised them and established them as a great nation as He had promised Abraham. When the people’s hearts strayed from His commandments, He sent prophets to lead them back, promising all the while that He would never fail to forgive them. Finally, in His mercy, He promised to send them a Messiah, a Savior who would conquer all their foes.

The greatest gift of God’s mercy, however, is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. In the man from Nazareth, God Himself comes to earth to share our life, to experience all the trials of human existence that we do. Ultimately, He offers His life, dying on a cross so that our sins may be forgiven. In so doing, God conquers our ancient foe, sin, but even more wondrously by raising Jesus from the dead, He conquers an even more dreaded enemy - death.

Sin offends God. When we break His commandments, we push our Heavenly Father aside. We arrogantly claim that we know better than He does whenever we choose our own will over His. Though God is angered and hurt by our sinful actions, He never lashes out at us. He does not punish and condemn us. Rather, He looks at the pain that sin causes in our life and treats us with mercy, offering us forgiveness and healing.

We see this clearly in today’s gospel. Jesus was hurt that His disciples abandoned Him at His crucifixion. He was hurt that Peter denied knowing Him. Thomas’ doubt must have also disappointed Him greatly. Rather than give up on them, Jesus reaches out to them through the locked doors of their fear and doubt to comfort and encourage them. Out of love, Jesus treats His disciples mercifully, taking pity on their fear and doubt rather than being offended by it.

The same is true for us. Each of us has sinned against God. Some of us may be carrying burdens of guilt and shame for many years over our wrongdoing. No matter what we may have done, no matter how many people we may have hurt, God looks beyond our sinfulness. His first instinct is not to condemn or punish us but to heal and forgive. He wants to relieve us of the shame and guilt we are carrying and  to know the joy of His mercy. Because of the abundance of His love, each of us can approach Him with confidence knowing that He will welcome us with open arms.

We experience this mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In today’s gospel, Jesus assures the apostles that “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” This authority to forgive sins has been passed down to bishops and priests and is experienced principally in the Sacrament of Confession. It is not easy to reveal our wrongdoing to another person. It takes a great deal of humility to admit that we have hurt others. However, when we find the courage to do so, we experience freedom from guilt and the power to change our lives. Great peace comes over us when we hear the priest say, “I absolve you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is Jesus working through the priest who makes the forgiveness of our sins possible. We leave the sacrament assured that we have been forgiven.

If it has been a long time since you have gone to confession, please make an opportunity to do so this week. Take advantage of God’s fatherly mercy which He extends to you. Drop the burden you have been carrying and lay claim to His promise of forgiveness. There is no sin that is unforgivable, no wrong that cannot be made right and no wound that cannot be healed through the grace of this powerful sacrament. Its power comes from the blood that Christ spilled on the cross and the promise He made to His apostles after He rose from the dead. And it is made available to us free of charge. We only have to bring a sorrowful heart and a willingness to change. God’s mercy will take care of the rest.

Divine Mercy

Most of us are aware that Our Lady has appeared many times over the past 200 years in places such as Lourdes and Fatima. What we may not be aware of is that, over that same period of time, Jesus has also appeared.

One of his recent appearances took place less than one hundred years ago in Poland to a young woman named Faustina Kowalska. Between 1931 and 1938, Jesus revealed to her that she was chosen to spread the message of His Divine Mercy. He wanted her to tell the whole world how great His love was for mankind and that if we would only turn to Him we would experience forgiveness and limitless blessings. At the urging of her superiors and spiritual director, Sister Faustina kept a diary of her conversations with our Lord. They are available in a book entitled, Divine Mercy in My Soul.

In one appearance, Jesus asked that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It would be a blessed day when sinners would find relief from their transgressions and grace to live holy lives. Jesus describes this feast to Sister Faustina in these words recorded in her diary: “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.”

And so, on April 30, 2000, Saint John Paul II honored our Lord’s request by declaring that the first Sunday after Easter be celebrated by the whole Church as Divine Mercy Sunday. Today, we gather to honor Jesus’ request, to reflect on His fathomless love and to abandon ourselves to His Divine Mercy.

Today’s gospel - the story of Doubting Thomas - is especially fitting for this celebration.

If anyone was in need of mercy, it was Thomas. He was not present when the Risen Jesus revealed Himself to the other ten apostles. He was not able to see for himself and so 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. He would have heard people talking about Jesus’ crucifixion which had happened only a few days earlier. Some would have been saying how unjust it was that He was treated so cruelly. Others would be laughing at Him and His followers for believing in such nonsense. Some people may have recognized Thomas as a follower of Jesus and confronted him. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, the trauma of Jesus’ death and the opinions of the people in the city were working on his mind and heart. His spirit was crushed. He did not want to believe anymore.

Does this not also describe the situation our modern society finds itself 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 - Jesus and His Apostles. 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.

It is here at the Sunday Mass that we experience the Risen Jesus. Each of us is aware of a Thomas in our life who has stopped coming to Mass. They are kept away by doubt, fear and sin. We should not judge them but should feel sorry for them. They may seem to be doing fine, but inside their soul is starving and their heart is broken. There is nothing the world can offer that will fully satisfy them. Only Jesus can provide them with what they are ultimately looking for.

I often hear people say, “If I walked into church, the ceiling would cave in.” There is nothing sadder that a person can say. It shows a total lack of trust in Jesus and His mercy. 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 they 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.”

Our Heavenly Father, more than anything else,  wants to forgive and save sinners. That means each of us here and those who have failed to join us. What is holding us back from abandoning ourselves wholeheartedly to Him? Whatever it is - whether it is doubt, fear or sin - His mercy is infinitely greater than it. He can overcome it all in us and in our loved ones who are not here to experience it for themselves. We need only to trust Him, send out the invitation to others to come and see for themselves, and let God take care of the rest.

God Reveals Himself In Jesus

Does God exist? Does He know me? Is there any way that I can know Him?

Is there a true religion? Does it matter what I believe or don’t believe? Does any of it make any difference?

Is there such a thing as truth at all? How can I know who is telling the truth? Can any of us know what is really true or not?

We live in an age of doubt. No questions are taboo anymore. There are no truths that are not up for grabs. As a society we are increasingly skeptical that we can know anything and even more skeptical that knowing the truth can make a difference. Saint Thomas can be considered the patron saint of our age.

However, as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Truth. He is God made visible in the flesh. He knows each of us and we can know Him. And even more importantly, He loves us and we can love Him. To a world that distrusts any claims to absolute truth, it is a bold assertion. It may even seem arrogant. However, we are proud to proclaim and live the truth revealed to us in our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.

Nonetheless, our faith in Jesus does not always dispel any doubts we may have. Like Saint Thomas, there are times when it all seems too good to be true and we wonder  whether it is all just a fairy tale. There are times when the other faiths or Christian traditions make us question how we can know which religion is the true one or if there is any true religion. Or the mysteries of our faith like the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist or the teaching of the Trinity that God is one God in three Persons can confuse us and challenge our beliefs. Finally, there are probably no issues more difficult for us to deal with in today’s society than Jesus’ moral teachings about marriage and family life.

It is natural that from time to time we will question our beliefs. In fact, it is a good thing if it leads us to grapple with the issues that are difficult for us, to learn more about them and to come to an understanding about why they are true and important for us to believe as followers of Jesus. Wrestling with difficult questions helps form our conscience and makes us better equipped to explain our faith to others who may themselves have questions.

There are times, however, when doubt can be a negative thing for our spiritual lives. If we give in to our doubts, if we fail to believe that anything is true, or if we tell ourselves that the truth does not matter, then it becomes impossible for us to follow Jesus. Doubt then becomes an excuse not to believe anything. We use it to justify any choices we may make since, if nothing is right, then nothing we do can be wrong. It also kills the life of our mind because, if we do not believe that anything is true, then there is no point in being curious about anything or striving to learn more.

Our doubts, however, can be an opportunity for us to grow in faith. We cannot have the same kind of certainty about the existence of God, about the reality of an afterlife or about the truth of the Catholic faith that we have about mathematical truths. We cannot prove these truths the way we can test scientific theories. There will always be unresolved questions in our minds and mysteries beyond our powers to understand. Faith means giving our lives over to God even though we have questions. Faith means committing ourselves to the good news of Jesus Christ even though we do not fully understand it. Faith means entrusting ourselves to the will of God even though the road ahead is unclear. We do that because Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” We do it also because Saint John tells us that “through this belief [we] may have life in his name.”

The life of Christian faith is nothing more than entrusting ourselves daily to Jesus. Every morning we place our worries into His hands confident that He hears us. Throughout the day we thank Him for every good gift which comes from His love. In every decision we make we seek His will rather than our own confident that He knows best. In other words, despite our questions, despite our doubts, despite our personal weakness and ignorance, we trust God. With that trust comes profound peace.  If there is only one prayer that we make throughout the day, it should be "Jesus, I trust in you."

The American spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, summed up this beautiful truth in the following prayer:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Jesus, I Trust In You

Most of us are aware that Our Lady has appeared many times over the past 200 years in places such as Lourdes and Fatima. What we may not be aware of is that, over that same period of time, Jesus has also appeared.

One of his recent appearances took place less than one hundred years ago in Poland to a young woman named Faustina Kowalska. Between 1931 and 1938, Jesus revealed to her that she was chosen to spread the message of His Divine Mercy. He wanted her to tell the whole world how great His love was for mankind and that if we would only turn to Him we would experience forgiveness and limitless blessings. At the urging of her superiors and spiritual director, Sister Faustina kept a diary of her conversations with our Lord. They are available in a book entitled, Divine Mercy in My Soul.

In one appearance, Jesus asked that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It would be a blessed day when sinners would find relief from their transgressions and grace to live holy lives. Jesus describes this feast to Sister Faustina in these words recorded in her diary: “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.”

And so, on April 30, 2000, Saint John Paul II honored our Lord’s request by declaring that the first Sunday after Easter be celebrated by the whole Church as Divine Mercy Sunday. Today, we gather to honor Jesus’ request, to reflect on His fathomless love and to abandon ourselves to His Divine Mercy.

Today’s gospel - the story of Doubting Thomas - is especially fitting for this celebration.

If anyone was in need of mercy, it was Thomas. He was not present when the Risen Jesus revealed Himself to the other ten apostles. He was not able to see for himself and so 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. He would have heard people talking about Jesus’ crucifixion which had happened only a few days earlier. Some would have been saying how unjust it was that He was treated so cruelly. Others would be laughing at Him and His followers for believing in such nonsense. Some people may have recognized Thomas as a follower of Jesus and confronted him. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, the trauma of Jesus’ death and the opinions of the people in the city were working on his mind and heart. His spirit was crushed. He did not want to believe anymore.

Does this not also describe the situation our modern society finds itself 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 - Jesus and His Apostles. 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.

It is here at the Sunday Mass that we experience the Risen Jesus. Each of us is aware of a Thomas in our life who has stopped coming to Mass. They are kept away by doubt, fear and sin. We should not judge them but should feel sorry for them. They may seem to be doing fine, but inside their soul is starving and their heart is broken. There is nothing the world can offer that will fully satisfy them. Only Jesus can provide them with what they are ultimately looking for.

I often hear people say, “If I walked into church, the ceiling would cave in.” There is nothing sadder that a person can say. It shows a total lack of trust in Jesus and His mercy. 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 they 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.”

Our Heavenly Father, more than anything else,  wants to forgive and save sinners. That means each of us here and those who have failed to join us. What is holding us back from abandoning ourselves wholeheartedly to Him? Whatever it is - whether it is doubt, fear or sin - His mercy is infinitely greater than it. He can overcome it all in us and in our loved ones who are not here to experience it for themselves. We need only to trust Him, send out the invitation to others to come and see for themselves, and let God take care of the rest.