Sunday in the Octave of Easter – Sunday of Divine Mercy
In the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter, St. John brings together three great lessons of mercy from Jesus Christ towards His Church.
On appearing in the Upper Room, Our Lord’s first words are: “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19). With this greeting He transmits the serenity that had been lacking in the Apostles during his Passion and Death on the Cross, cowed by the prospect of losing their lives. Christ’s peace was the supernatural antidote they needed.
As an effect of this peace, Jesus communicates the Divine Paraclete to His Apostles and institutes the Sacrament of Penance, giving them the power to forgive sins: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).
He thus established the highest tribunal on earth, in which Christ Himself, in the person of His ministers, absolves the contrite penitent of his guilt.
Eight days later, peace was also infused into the soul of the Apostle St. Thomas, the same one who had asked to follow Christ, receiving the revelation that He was “the Way, and the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). After Jesus’ death, however, overcome by fear, disbelief and lack of trust, this disciple had refused to believe in His Resurrection.
“We have seen the Lord,” his brothers said to him, to which he replied: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25). The Divine Master paternally called him to Himself and granted his request, concluding: “do not be unbelieving, but believe” (Jn 20:27).
It was certainly in Thomas’ vocation to teach the peoples that the true and only path to follow is the one he had learned from the lips of the Redeemer. The Lord allowed him this test so that, having overcome the obstacle, the Apostle would become a faithful witness to His Person and bring the Good News to the ends of the earth. In fact, he evangelized Persia and India, where he was martyred. There are even mysterious indications, gleaned from the indigenous traditions of our continent, of his preaching in America.
Let us keep the three great lessons that Our Lord gives us on this Sunday dedicated to His mercy: seeking the peace of Christ is the only way forward so that humanity, submerged in the darkness of unbelief, can rise again; if our conscience accuses us of some fault, let us not hesitate to seek the tribunal of mercy, which is Confession, and then we will obtain peace; when our soul feels enveloped by the darkness of uncertainty, let us follow what St. Thomas learned from Jesus: “take courage, I have conquered the world” (Jn 16:33). ◊
