This Divine Mercy Sunday I have been blessed to have heard the Bishop’s homily already and so I could take it and save myself some time in preparing this homily. The Bishop mentioned how we are lucky that Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared. I agree and I am certain that our Lord arranged it this way so that we could experience the Risen Christ with Thomas. I personally find it very fascinating that our Lord appeared to the disciples without Thomas. However, he was there invisibly when Thomas made his request to put his hands in His side. Why do we know this? Because Jesus is God. Jesus then waits a whole week, apparently eight days, before He appears again and fulfills Thomas’ request. It didn’t have to go down this way but it did. And these things were written down so that you might believe in Jesus.
On the Second Sunday of Easter the Church has always focused on mercy however recently the Church, under St Pope John Paul II, declared this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday and as a special blessing he died on the vigil of this great feast. St John Paul II was one of the longest reigning popes. He was a miracle worker who saw, after consecrating the world to Our Lady, the communist regime crumble. He witnessed many great things, including the turning of the century. Yet, he said to a friend, that this was the greatest moment in his pontificate, the naming of the Second Sunday in Easter Divine Mercy Sunday, after the request of Jesus made through Sister Faustina. Wow, stand up and listen: the greatest moment of his pontificate.
I can see why. Because in this feast you and I get to be like Thomas. We get to put our hand in Our Lord’s side and take from His Sacred Heart the Mercy of God and share it with the whole world. I personally have witnessed the power of this prayer, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, work in ways that were simply beyond my wildest imaginings. The first time I witnessed its power in a major degree was as a seminarian. For Lent, I prayed it for a certain politician who was doing great damage to the Church and harm to the people of Canada. On Good Friday of that Lent, he resigned his seat. I have seen amazing conversions of souls many times over. This Lent, I prayed it each day that people in the parish would return to the Sacrament of Confession and I was in awe of what happened. Many souls who had been away a long time came back. If you still haven’t made your confession I beg you do so today. There is another opportunity. From two to three I will be hearing confessions again and then we will say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at three.
This is a great gift to the Church, Divine Mercy. Like I said last Sunday, the miracle of mercy is what gives us the strength to follow Jesus. If we do not know Our Lord’s mercy then we do not know His love and Our Lord died in vain for us. Mercy is the key to being a Christian and living our Christian faith. We see very clearly that the Church herself is also in need of mercy. And when we as people receive mercy, we are more inclined to give it. The world, the media, has no mercy because they think they are saved by making themselves look sinless or that their sins aren’t as bad as others. Yet this is not mercy, this is not salvation. We are only saved when we know we need to be saved. Let us not fall into the trap of self justification. Let us, like Thomas, satisfy our doubt in the Lord’s open side. If we don’t believe like Thomas then we, too, can come to the open side. Pray this Chaplet and see that the Lord’s Mercy is true and we, too, will say with Thomas, “My Lord and My God!”