By Father James Rodriguez
There have been many ceremonies and events commemorating this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Thousands of pilgrims have made the walk to and through the Holy Doors of our designated parishes.
God’s mercy has not been without fruit this year and yet, as you read this, you might be wondering, “What about me?” You might be calling to mind the apparent silence of God when you’ve needed Him most, perhaps a personal suffering known only to you and Him. Because God might seem distant, it becomes easier to distance ourselves, forgetting our past resolutions and promises, abandoning the One we fear has abandoned us.
Today’s feast obliterates this fear. Today, we are shaken awake by the gloriously disturbing truth that He is risen – truly risen! With hands pierced and glorified, He takes our fearful excuses and buries them, for the tomb is now empty and we are free.
This freedom, expensive though it was, is offered freely, though never forced upon us. Risking our abuse of this freedom – true love would have it no other way – God invites, and when we take the invitation seriously, truly incredible things happen.
Power of Conversion
St. Peter knew this well. Remember that it was he, who not very long ago denied even knowing the Lord, who now casts out evil in His holy name. Even His shadow cures the sick! Such is the power of conversion.
This constant, though imperfect, turning toward the light of life that, briefly extinguished, blazes brightly anew atop paschal candles all over the world. These divine lighthouses beckon us home. When we look at them, we must be sure to look at the baptismal water near them during this holy season, remembering how we ourselves died in those waters, and were brought out again – more alive than before – by the mighty Son of the Most High.
Banishes All Fear
Despite this reality, we often forget, and John, the beloved disciple writing from exile in Patmos, speaks of the vision we need to remember. He hears a trumpet blast and the Voice that banishes all fear. The one who speaks calls Himself “the first and the last,” the one we can turn to always, for He never changes. He calls people of every age, even you and me, to believe in mercy because we have received it.
Having received mercy, we are then charged to share it with the world, imitating Him who loved us first, and forgave us from the Cross. What a lesson for each of us! From His anguish – not after it – did He pray for us and forgive. When we are in the anguish of betrayal and sadness, it is precisely then that we can turn to the Father and offer prayers for our persecutors. In this way we imitate Him who calls us to spiritual perfection.
It is He who appeared to the disciples on this second Sunday of Easter, gathered in the safest place they could think of – the world’s first Catholic Church – where Jesus had washed their feet and fed them bread and wine. There He had spoken about His body and blood, given up for them. He spoke of a new covenant, and commanded them: “Do this in memory of me.” They left there changed, not unlike a man leaving the cathedral on the day of his priestly ordination.
One of these first priests, Thomas by name, had doubted, and justifiably so. He was frustrated by a fear that we can hardly understand. First, he knew his life was in danger, having seen firsthand what happened to those who claimed to know God in the radically personal Christian way.
The Stuff of Legends
Second, his closest friends were describing something heretofore unheard of. Here, you and I have to try, difficult as it is, to imagine life before the Resurrection. This concept was at best the stuff of legends and metaphors, not real life. Only long after did it enter popular stories, such that now it is in so many of our movies and literature as to be commonplace.
It truly changed everything, and became the world’s best and greatest hope, something no other sane messianic figure – religious, political or otherwise – even dared to ascribe to himself. Thomas learned this mysterious lesson well as he gazed into the open side of our Lord and fell to his knees in adoration.
We are Thomas. In times marred by warfare and terrorism, demagoguery and political infighting, we are Thomas. As our families are ravaged by addiction, hopelessness and apparent helplessness, we are Thomas.
In the communion line at Mass today, the pierced hand is extended, waiting for us to reach out, one hand atop the other. The minister of Holy Communion speaks: “The Body of Christ.” Let us say “Amen,” and become one with our Lord and our God.
Editor’s Note: For a listing of special events for Divine Mercy Sunday in the diocese, click here.
Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter or the Sunday of Divine Mercy
Acts 5: 12-16
Psalm 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Revelation 1: 9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
John 20: 19-31
Father James Rodriguez is the associate vocation director for the diocese and teaches at Cathedral Prep and Seminary, Elmhurst.
