Divine Mercy Sunday 2026 - Unfathomable mercy

 

On the Sunday after Easter in the year 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II surprised the world, and even many of his cardinals, by declaring that the second Sunday of the Easter season is to be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Though the title for this Sunday is relatively new, the message of God's merciful love is certainly not a new concept.  It's the central message of the Christian faith preached for 2000 years.  God has mercy upon sinners; we are loved by God even when we are unlovable because of our sins—no matter how sinful, God's forgiveness is available to all who turn to Him.

The celebration of Divine Mercy is a fitting conclusion to the octave of Easter.  On Easter Sunday we celebrated the triumph of God's love over the powers of sin and death.  Jesus' resurrection shows that Sin and death do not get the last word.  God did not counter our sin with fiery wrath from heaven.  Rather, God defeated man’s sin in a totally unimaginable and unexpected way, Mercy.

Think about it.  On Mount Calvary, we violently rejected God in the flesh.  Everytime we sin, we reject God, but the crucifixion, in a sense, is man's ultimate rejection of God.  At that moment, more than any in human history, God would have been justified in simply ending this whole thing project, condemning us as too sick, too depraved, so corrupt we’d rather kill God than admit our errors. 

Yet from the cross Jesus pronounces not wrath, but forgiveness—not an end to mankind, but an end to the reign of sin and death. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. And from his side flowed blood and water flowed as rays of divine mercy made available to all people in the Sacraments of the Church. 

The Gospel reading for this Divine Mercy Sunday echoes the message of mercy. Entering the upper room, in the midst of his disciples—he shows them, his wounds, and in doing so he wasn’t pointing them out as if to shame his disciples, or to announce his vengeance. “Look what you did, now it’s time for you to pay”. Rather, he points to his wounds, and says, “peace”. 

Today is a day for the Church to celebrate God’s mercy and to commit to making that message known.

Back in the year 2000, when Pope St. John Paul instituted today as the feast of mercy, he did so in the context of the canonization of a saint—a little known polish nun at the time named Saint Faustina Kowalska. 

In the 1930’s Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, received a series of private revelations from the Lord himself about his desire to make known to the world his mercy.

Listen to the words of Jesus recorded by Sister Faustina:

“My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a 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. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My mercy.”

The Lord Jesus could have appeared at any moment in history, but he chose the 1930s. The 1930s began an era of cruelty and godlessness. It saw the rise of totalitarian atheistic governments and rampant materialism and the trampling of basic human freedoms like the right to life. Merciless governments, merciless war crimes, merciless genocides in Europe and Africa, merciless wars over the resources of the earth, merciless religious persecutions, merciless killing of babies, merciless pursuit of wealth at the expense of human life. And Jesus shows up, and tells Sr. Faustina, make my mercy known.

It is unfathomable, that in the face of evil, Jesus wants us to announce His mercy. Most of us would be quick to condemn the world for all of these grave sins, but Jesus says that our task to announce his mercy. “Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.”  

Though, of course, the Church must speak the truth about sin. We must never grow tired of announcing mercy. To whom? To everyone. To fallen away Catholics, “you are welcome back”. To those ashamed by their sins: “don’t be afraid of confession, Jesus is waiting for you there.” To filled with anger and hatred: “you will find peace in forgiveness”. To those who think their sins are too big for God to forgive: “God’s mercy is boundless”. To those trapped in patterns of sin, resentment, impurity, addiction, or indifference: Jesus Christ is not done with you: “Trust in Jesus, and you will find freedom, peace, joy, and meaning”. 

There are souls who feel that it is pointless to change their ways because they think are too far gone, they are too entrenched in sin to change: God’s mercy can save you. Allow yourself to be saved. Whatever your sins might be, they can be forgiven, whatever the direction of your life, it can be changed. 

Brothers and sisters, the world is starving for mercy, even when it does not know how to name what it is seeking. Beneath so much anger, confusion, and violence are wounded human hearts—estranged from God—locked in fear. And so the Church, like her risen Lord entering the locked room, must enter those locked rooms say again and again: God’s Peace be with you. No door is truly locked to Jesus. And the message of mercy can reach the most hardened hearts when we have the courage to share it.

Today, on Divine Mercy Sunday, we thank God for his infinite mercy for each of us and for all—pro omnibus et singulis. But we also pray for the grace to be ambassadors of mercy—for as the Lord has proclaimed peace, so must we—to lead souls to the font of mercy: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, whose mercy endures forever, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2024 - Disciples of Peace and Mercy

 Five times in our Gospel reading today, we find the word, “disciples”—the disciples of Jesus—“the disciples were locked in the upper room”—“the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord”—“the disciples said to Thomas, “we have seen the Lord”. 

The English word, “disciple” comes from the latin—discipulus—a student. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a student of the greatest of teachers—we are to study his life, his lessons, and his mind and heart. 

In Jesus’ time, a disciple was called, in Hebrew, a talmid, which can refer to a student, but more accurately refers to an “apprentice”. While a student learns head knowledge in order to know what the teachers knows, an apprentice works with the teacher to learn what the teacher does so he or she can imitate what the teacher’s activity in the world. And in Jesus’ day talmidim didn’t just attend a class or read a book to gain knowledge from their rabbi—they left their jobs and families and communities to follow their rabbi and watch how he lived. They wanted to be just like their rabbi—in all things.

The Lord’s call to follow Him—to be his disciple—reverberated throughout Lent and now in Easter.

At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke about discipleship. He said, “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Notice, the Lord didn’t say, “this is how everyone will know that you are my disciple, if you can properly recite your Baltimore catechism”, but rather, “if you love one another.” Now of course, love and discipleship often includes passing on the catechism to the next generation of Christians, but knowledge of the catechism does not exhaust our call to discipleship, rather...

 “As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.” We know that when our Lord was talking about Love—he wasn’t just talking about a feeling. Being his disciple isn’t just about having bubbly feelings about each other. “There is no greater love, than to lay down your life for a friend.”

And so Good Friday was the ultimate lesson in discipleship. We, disciples of Jesus Christ are called to love one another, with Christ-like love, that loves God and loves others, all the way to the Cross.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus showed his disciples proof of his love. Entering the upper room, in the midst of his disciples—he shows them, his wounds. This is how everyone will know you are my disciples: will you bear wounds for others—you are to engage in sacrificial self-giving for others.

When he showed his wounds, he wasn’t pointing them out as if to shame his disciples, or to announce his vengeance, his retribution. “Look what you did, now it’s time for you to pay”. Rather, he points to his wounds, and says, “peace”. From the cross, Jesus pronounced, not wrath, but forgiveness: “father, forgive them, for they not know what they have done”. And after his resurrection, he announces, peace.

“Love one another, as I love you.” In the course of the Christian life, we are to engage in Christ-like self-sacrificial love for others, AND we are to practice mercy by extending peace to all, even those who hate us. We cannot love without extending mercy. 

Be merciful, Christ teaches, as God is merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

In our lives, we are often hurt by others, sometimes deeply. To practice Christ-like mercy, we are called to forgive those who injure us, not holding onto grudges or seeking revenge. Mercy isn't a sign of weakness but a profound strength and a reflection of God's mercy towards us.

Jesus’s mercy was evident toward the hungry, sick, and the sorrowful. Practicing Christ-like mercy involves recognizing the physical and emotional needs of those around us and responding generously. We are to offer a listening ear when others are going through a tough time, and doing what we can to help the needy. 

In Matthew 25, Jesus identifies Himself with the stranger, saying, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Practicing mercy involves opening our hearts and communities to those who are different from us, whether they be newcomers, people from different cultural or religious backgrounds, or those who feel marginalized and alone. By extending hospitality and friendship, we make tangible Jesus' love and mercy.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This radical call to mercy involves lifting up in prayer those we may find difficult to love, including those who oppose us or hurt us in some way. Through prayer, we open our hearts to God's transforming love and allow Him to work through us to extend mercy to those living far from God.

In a world marked by division and conflict, practicing Christ-like mercy means being agents of peace and reconciliation. Christian disciples are called to mediating conflicts in our families or communities, working towards justice and peace in our societies, and seeking to build bridges rather than walls. 

Finally, Jesus' ultimate demonstration of mercy was through His sacrificial love on the cross. We are called to live lives of sacrificial love, putting the needs of others before our own, and being willing to bear wounds for the sake of love. Christian disciples are called to make personal sacrifices for the good of our families, communities, and even strangers, mirroring the self-giving love of Christ.

In embracing the practice of mercy, we become true disciples of Christ, reflecting His love and mercy in a world in desperate need of both. As we go forth from this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us carry in our hearts the call to be merciful as our Father is merciful, and to spread the joy of the Resurrection through our words and deeds of love, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

2nd Sunday of Easter 2023 - Mercy for the Facebook Killer

 Six years ago, this time of year, Cleveland became the center of national news. You may remember this sad story, that a 74-year old man named Robert Godwin Sr was shot and killed while walking on a sidewalk in the Glenville neighborhood. His murderer posted a cellphone video of the shooting on his Facebook account, leading many media outlets, to dub him the "Facebook killer".

Following his murder, Mr. Godwin’s family appeared on television. And in front of the entire nation, they forgave the murderer. Speaking for the family, his daughter Tonya said, “Each one of us forgives the killer… I forgive you and love you, but most importantly,” she said, “God loves you. God can heal your mind and save your soul.” She says, We want the killer to know, “that God loves him, we love him. Yes we’re hurt, but we have to forgive him because the Bible says if we don’t then the heavenly father won’t forgive us.” Of course she is referring to Matthew chapter 6 verse 15 which says “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Mercy, forgiveness, healing. This is what we celebrate today on this Feast of Divine Mercy. And the Godwin family proclaimed this truth, lived this truth so beautifully.

God loves us. God can heal our minds and save our souls. God calls us to forgive, and by that act of forgiveness, we ourselves are forgiven.

Mr. Godwin's son, Robert Jr, echoed the sentiment shared by his sister. He said,  “One thing I do want to say [to the killer] is I forgive him. Because we are all sinners…I’m not happy with what you did, but I forgive you.”

Here is a family, devastated by the senseless death of a dear loved one, but filled with the mercy of God. 

St. Peter said in our second reading that that we will have “to suffer through various trials…that our faith is tested”. The death of their loved one at the hands of the Facebook killer certainly tested the faith of the Godwin family, it was certainly a trial. But mercy radiated from this family in a way that truly glorified God.

This is our vocation as Christians: to be filled with the Mercy of God. Mercy was at the heart of Good Friday: the Lord prays, "Father, Forgive Them...have mercy on them...for they know not what they do. Mercy was at the Heart of Easter Sunday: the Lord bursts through lock doors, shows the wounds in his hands and feet, caused by sinners, and announces not his wrath, but peace, peace to all sinners, those who denied him, rejected him, ran away from their vocations, all of us. Today’s Feast celebrates the mercy lavishly poured out upon us by God and the mercy we are in turn to pour out for others.

In the 1930’s a simple Polish nun by the name of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, received a series of private revelations from the Lord himself regarding Mercy. Now canonized, St. Faustina recorded these private revelations in a diary of about 600 pages detailing a whole program of devotion to the mercy of Jesus Christ. Consider the Lord’s timing in appearing to St. Faustina! 

The 1930s was the beginning of an era of unparalleled cruelty of man toward his brother. It saw the rise of totalitarian atheistic governments and rampant materialism and the trampling of basic human freedoms like the right to life. Merciless governments, merciless war crimes, merciless genocides in Europe and Africa, merciless wars over the resources of this earth, merciless religious persecutions, merciless killing of babies, merciless pursuit of wealth at the expense of human life. 

The Lord said to St. Faustina, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” 

While evil has certainly shown its terrible and ugly face these last hundred years. So has Divine Mercy. In saints like Maximilian Kolbe offering his life to save his fellow concentration camp prisoner, St. Gemma offering the sacrifice of her life for her unborn child, St. Padre Pio and many others who bore the wounds of the holy stigmata out of mercy for the sins of the world, St. Oscar Romero suffering martyrdom for calling the Salvadoran soldiers to show mercy to their political enemies, St. Mother Theresa and her holy sisters engaging in the works of mercy toward the poorest of the poor.

That’s not to mention the proliferation of so many Catholic institutions, institutions that your families have supported these last hundred years. Institutions of mercy right here in Cleveland: rosary hall and matt Talbott, mercifully providing professional substance abuse and mental health services to addicts. Our Catholic hospitals. Catholic Charities. St. Vincent de Paul programs. The hungry have been fed. The sick have been healed. The imprisoned have been visited. The doubtful have been counseled. Those stuck in cycles of sin have been sought out.

Yes, there has been an outpouring of evil in these last hundred years, but there has also been an outpouring of mercy. Opportunities for grace and conversion. So many souls coming to know God’s peace through the font of Christ’s mercy. 

In a sense, these last hundred years have been a century of mercy on a massive scale. 

Jesus told St Faustina, "I demand from you deeds of mercy... You are to show deeds of mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere."

Always and everywhere. And that’s quite the challenge, isn’t it? To show mercy to murdering facebook killers and annoying neighbors and inconsiderate drivers. To show generosity to God’s poor ones who reach out to you for help despite their rough personalities. To show patience to those who are wandering on the margins of the church or who have even stepped outside her bounds. Always and everywhere means always and everywhere. That’s a challenge. It’s a trial. It’s a test of faith. But by being dedicated to forgiveness and to deeds of mercy, we attain the goal of our faith, the glory of God and the salvation of your souls.

2nd Sunday of Easter 2021 - "Peace be with you"

 

“Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

What is peace? Blessed are the peacemakers, the Lord teaches in his great Sermon on the Mount, for they shall obtain peace. But what is peace?

The ancient Roman word for peace, from which our English word derives, is pax: p-a-x. 

The golden age of Ancient Roman history was called the Pax Romana—Roman Peace—about a 200 year span of empire-wide stability sustained by the far-reaching power and military might of the Roman Emperor. For the ancient Romans, peace is maintained through law and order backed by military might. A rebellion arises, restore peace by sending out the troops. Political enemies arise, either suppress them temporarily with a peace treaty, or deal with them permanently through force and violence. Peace comes from an absence of war. Is that what the Lord means by peace? 

Well, sort of. Afterall, through his death and resurrection, the Lord brought victory over those powers at war with God: evil, sin and death. Jesus entering the upper room, announces that the war is over, the war has been won, the pax Christi—the new era of the peace of Christ has begun. Human souls at odds with God through unbelief, willfulness, and selfishness, can now enter into this peace treaty with God—the eternal covenant achieved not through military means, but through the shedding of the blood of the spotless lamb. When we imitate Him in surrendering our wills to God, we can know peace.

And yet, when the Lord entered the upper room, he didn’t greet his confused disciples in latin. He did not say, “pax vobiscum”. Rather, he likely greeted them with the Hebrew word for peace, which you’ve probably heard before. “Shalom”

The biblical Hebrew word Shalom means peace that comes from wholeness and goodness and blessedness. Shalom is not just the absence of hostility, but rather the establishment of lasting, righteous well-being. Blessed are the peacemakers, those who work to establish the physical, emotional, material, and spiritual well-being of others. If you work for this sort of peace, the Lord promises you will experience this sort of peace.

The Lord entering the upper room is announcing that the peace of the kingdom of God—lasting spiritual well-being is now available to his disciples. Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives, do I give it.  The world promises this sort of peace, but it cannot deliver. It can only offer artificial substitutes that leave us empty and exhausted. May the shalom of God through Christ be with your spirit.

The Hebrew word, Shalom, in scripture, also refers to the peace and tranquility that the righteous soul experiences in death. One of the earliest uses of the word shalom, is in God’s promise to Abraham in the first book of the bible, when he promises that due to Abraham’s faithfulness in life, he will rest in the peace of his forefathers in death. Thousands of years later, we still offer that prayer when someone dies, “may he rest in peace.”

So too in our Christian belief about death and judgment. Those of Jesus’ disciples who die in a state of peace with God, a state of grace—will be raised on the last day and enjoy the eternal peace of the heavenly kingdom. 

We’ve looked at the latin word, we looked at the Hebrew word, but St. John’s Gospel, was not written in either latin or Hebrew, was it, but in Greek. And the Greek word, St. John uses to translate the Lord’s greeting of Shalom, is also quite revealing. The Greek word for peace in St. John’s Gospel, is the word “Eirene”—coming for the word “eiro” which means to be joined to something that makes you whole. So peace, Christian peace, lasting peace, comes ultimately from being joined to Christ. This is a peace that is available to us through the Sacramental life of the Church. We are joined to Him in baptism. Broken communion is restored through Reconciliation. We are strengthened in communion through the Eucharist. Husband and Wife become a sacrament of the Lord’s union with the Church through sacramental marriage. 

Finally, notice, that the Lord’s announcement of peace only comes at the very end of John’s Gospel, after the Lord’s death and resurrection. Peace, wholeness, blessedness and well-being have come at a price. For notice, too, how immediately after announcing peace, he draws his attention to the wounds in his hands and side. The Lord draws attention to the marks of his suffering, crucifixion, and death, for as Isaiah writes, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; by his wounds we are healed, his punishment has brought us wholeness” 

The Lord invites Thomas to place his hands within the wounds that have won peace and wholeness for him and the whole human race. When we contemplate his wounds with gratitude we obtain a sense of how deeply we are loved. And when we commit to imitate that suffering to work for peace, we become blessed with a peace that nothing else in the world can provide.

True Peace is never every achieved without suffering. Good Pope St. John XXIII wrote, “True peace is born of doing the will of God, and bearing with patience the sufferings of this life, and does not come from following one’s own whim or selfish desire, for this always brings, not peace and serenity, but disorder and discontent”.

Do you want peace in your family, peace in our world? You’ll never find it until you are at peace with God through Christ—seeking to order your life according to his teachings, living his commandments, receiving his grace through the sacraments, listening to his life-giving word in prayer.

Easter is the celebration of the New Peace that is available to the human race—a peace that comes through union with Christ. May we never take his victory for granted, but live the new life of peace today and all days, and allow ourselves to become his instruments of establishing his peace in the hearts and minds and souls of others for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

Divine Mercy Sunday 2020 - The Risen Christ and the Locked Room

Two years ago, on Divine Mercy Sunday, from St. Peter’s square, Pope Francis reflected upon today’s Gospel: of the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, entering into the locked room, where the apostles had barricaded themselves from the world and from their fears. Little did the holy father know, that two years later, the vast numbers of the Catholic faithful, would, too be barricaded behind locked doors because of the Corona Virus.

The Apostles barricaded themselves, why? well, out of fear.  They feared the repercussions of their association with Jesus of Nazareth. Rumors had already begun to spread throughout Jerusalem that the apostles had stolen the body of Jesus claiming that he had risen from the dead. The apostles feared that they now would be arrested, and beaten, and tortured, and killed like their master, by those who conspired against Him. After all, in this very room, on Holy Thursday, Jesus had told them, that where the Master goes, so must the disciple.

Perhaps they also locked themselves in the upper room out of shame. Only one of the Apostles, St. John, had followed the Lord all the way to the cross. Peter, had even denied that he knew Jesus. Their shame became a locked room, a prison, their shame over their failure to believe and follow. The way out of their prison, out of their immobility, paralysis, and confusion, was not clear, as they failed to grasp the implications of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Now, our locked doors over this last month of quarantine are a little different. Our doors were locked out of safety and concern for our health and our neighbors, in compliance with government policy and the guidance of our religious leaders. And from talking with parishioners over the phone these last few weeks, most of us are quite ready to throw open those doors once again.

And, for many Christians, for believers, these locked doors have not been much of an obstacle to the Peace of Christ. I’ve heard wonderful stories how Christian families have been reading from Scripture together, praying together more than they ever have before. Christians have been phoning, and video conferencing family, and neighbors, and friends, baking and cooking and shopping for each other, sewing quarantine masks. Even the internet has become a way out of the locked room, or rather, an entry point for the Lord, when we’ve watched mass. We’ve learned once again the power of making spiritual communion with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar even when we could not be physically present there. Our desire for Him, our longing for Him expressed in prayer has been a gateway out of our locked rooms into the dwelling place of God in heaven.

Like the Christians of the early Church in our first reading, have learned new ways and rediscovered old ways to be devoted to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers by studying our faith, and reaching out in charity to members of our community, and coming together for the breaking of the bread, albeit, through computer and television screens.

And we’ve grown in solidarity with many Christians around the world, like our brothers and sisters in the diocesan missions in El Salvador who do not have access to churches, to weekly mass, and yet they continue to study the word of god, and pass on the faith to the young, and spread the Gospel through their good works and preaching.

Perhaps, these weeks of quarantine have also helped us to have a deeper understanding of what Vatican II called the “domestic church” the Church of the home. The prayer, and devotion, study, good works, and forgiveness so essential to the spreading the Gospel out in the world, must first begin at home.

Maybe we’ve come to discover that a locked door is not necessarily a bad thing, truly coming to appreciate the Lord’s teaching on the first day of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, He instructs his disciples to go to their inner room, and shut the door, and pray in secret.

A locked room can be a place where the peace of Christ is experienced profoundly. Why? Because the Lord Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel today, is not hindered by locked doors. The Risen Christ appeared and stood in their midst, and announced “Peace be with you” and he does for us as well. 
Now, there are many in the world, who lock the doors of their minds and hearts to Jesus. Their pride, their egos are so swollen, their sins or addictions or ignorance are so great, you meet them, and you think they’ll never allow Jesus into their lives. And there those who lock doors to Jesus out of shame, who hide from God like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they are ashamed of their sins, they fear going to Confession, they fear repentance and change of heart, and so they just hide.

But even shame, Pope Francis says, is a gift from God. Shame is a first step toward repentance. Shame is a sign that the conscience is still alive. Shame isn’t so much a locked door, but a sign that there is something, someone outside of ourselves .The tragedy, Pope Francis says is when we are no longer ashamed of anything. Let us not be afraid to experience shame! He says. Let us pass from shame to forgiveness!

Neither shame, nor pride, nor fear, are complete obstacles to the Lord Jesus. Know that he is with you now, in your locked rooms, announcing the invitation of his peace. For those who do not recognize his presence with them, et us pray assiduously that every imprisoned mind and selfish heart may come to detect his presence and know his mercy. No doubt, the very way he wishes to enter into the lives of nonbelievers and unrepentant sinners is through us, through those prayers, and acts of charity, the phone call, the hot meal or the plate of cookies, perhaps reaching out to that family member who we haven’t spoken to for years.

The mission of the Church now and always is bring the peace of Christ into the locked doors of the world, and we will be ever more effective in this mission, when we have opened every locked door of our own mind and heart to him through prayer and penance and works of mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2019 - The Wounds of the Risen Christ

It was nineteen years ago, that Pope Saint John Paul II surprised the world, and even many of his cardinals, by declaring this second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.

Though the title for this Sunday is relatively new, the message of God's merciful love is certainly not a new concept.  It's the central message of the Christian faith preached for almost 2000 years.  God has mercy upon sinners; we are loved by God even when we are unlovable because of our sins—no matter how sinful, God's forgiveness is available to all who turn to Him.

The celebration of Divine Mercy is a fitting conclusion to the octave of Easter.  On Easter Sunday we celebrated the triumph of God's love over the powers of sin and death.  Jesus' resurrection shows that Sin and death do not get the last word.  God did not counter our sin with fiery wrath from heaven.  Rather, God defeated man’s sin in a totally unimaginable and unexpected way, Mercy.

Think about it.  On Mount Calvary, we violently rejected God in the flesh.  The crucifixion, in a sense, is man's ultimate rejection of God.  At that moment, more than any in human history, wouldn't God have been justified in simply ending this whole project, condemning us as too sick, too depraved, so corrupt we’d rather kill God than admit our errors.

Yet from the cross Jesus pronounces not wrath, but forgiveness, and from his side blood and water flowed as rays of divine mercy. The resurrection of Jesus on Easter then is a stamp of approval from God, that mercy is granted.

Pope Benedict XVI said, Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: Encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God.  Jesus willingly gave himself up to death so that we might be saved and pass from death to life.  Mercy has a name, mercy has a face, mercy has a heart. 

The Gospel reading for this Divine Mercy Sunday, is wonderful message for people of every place and time. Even though the investigation into the Gospel message might begin with some doubt, some hesitation, those who seek the Risen Christ, shall find Him, those who seek to honestly verify the Gospel, shall find it to be true.

Last Year, on Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis, preaching from St. peter’s square, reflected upon this Gospel.  Listen to the Holy Father’s Words: “in today’s Gospel, we hear, over and over, the word “see”.  The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (Jn 20:20).  They tell Thomas: “We have seen the Lord” (v. 25).  But the Gospel does not describe how they saw him; it does not describe the risen Jesus.  It simply mentions one detail: “He showed them his hands and his side” (v. 20).  It is as if the Gospel wants to tell us that that is how the disciples recognized Jesus: through his wounds.  The same thing happened to Thomas.  He too wanted to see “the mark of the nails in his hands” (v. 25), and after seeing, he believed (v. 27).

“How can we see him?” the holy Father asks. “Like the disciples: through his wounds.  Gazing upon those wounds, the disciples understood the depth of his love.  They understood that he had forgiven them, even though some had denied him and abandoned him. To enter into Jesus’ wounds is to contemplate the boundless love flowing from his heart. This is the way. It is to realize that his heart beats for me, for you, for each one of us.  Dear brothers and sisters, we can consider ourselves Christians, call ourselves Christians and speak about the many beautiful values of faith, but, like the disciples, we need to see Jesus by touching his love.  Only thus can we go to the heart of the faith and, like the disciples, find peace and joy (cf. vv. 19-20) beyond all doubt.”

For Pope Francis, the wounds of Christ, is a key to faith, believing the Gospel message. For the wounds of Jesus are a result of his love for us. You can see Jesus, you can come to know him, and know his love for you, by contemplating his wounds.

As you may know, there is an ancient devotion to the five wounds of Jesus. That devotion can be traced back to today’s Gospel. The apostles, and Thomas, as the Holy Father Pope Francis explains, turn their gaze to the wounds of Christ in order to know him, and see Him, to see His love, better.

The very beginning of the Easter season, in fact, includes a liturgical act, memorializing the five wounds of Jesus. As the priest blesses the new easter candle at the easter vigil, he inserts five grains of incense into the new candle in the form of the cross, and says, “by his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ the Lord guard us and protect us.” You can see these five grains of incense inserted into our own easter candle here.

In the middle ages, St. Bernard and St. Francis of Assisi encouraged devotions in honor of the five wounds. Perhaps, Pope Francis’ Divine Mercy homily on the wounds of Jesus was inspired by his namesake. Later in life, St. Francis of Assisi, in fact, would be marked by the holy stigmata, receiving the five wounds of Jesus in his own flesh.

In your easter prayer, in addition to lifting up your petitions to God every day, praying for the courage to preach the Easter Gospel: take a moment to meditate upon the wounds of Jesus. Ask Jesus to help you to see his love for you, through his wounds. Ask him to bring the healing power of his resurrection to your own wounds, to the wounds in our parish, to the wounds in our families.  For as Isaiah the prophet said, “by his wounds we are healed.”

Jesus, bearing his wounds, enters the upper room, and announces Peace to his disciples. Much peace, the fullness of peace, is offered to us through Faith in Him, recognizing him bursting into the locked doors of our own lives, inviting us to contemplate his wounds, his love.

Recognizing Jesus’ great love and his victory over death, filled the apostles with great courage. Recognizing the Risen Christ, wrote Pope Francis, “casts out fear from the hearts of the apostles and pushes them out of the Upper Room, to bring the Gospel. We also must have more courage to witness to faith in the Risen Christ! Let us not be afraid to be Christian and live as Christians!” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Sunday of Easter 2018 - "Men do not die for things they doubt.”

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! For much of the world, Easter is over. For Catholics, we are just warming up. Easter is celebrated over the course of a whole season of 50 days: from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. We celebrated with particular solemnity over the first 8 days of the easter season, called the easter octave. So, if you attended weekday Mass this past week, we were singing the Gloria every day, and our scripture readings related some amazing events that took place after Jesus resurrected: His appearance to Mary Magdalene, Having breakfast with his apostles on the shore of the sea of Galilee, his appearance to his disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Why do we dwell upon the “Easter-event” for so long? For the same reason Jesus appeared over and over to his disciples before ascending to the Father: to strengthen their faith, their conviction, that he is truly risen. And it took a while for the apostles to really get it. Those first few appearances Jesus has to convince them that he’s not just a hallucination, he’s not a ghost. He’s really there in the flesh—resurrected flesh. He eats fish and bread with them on the seashore, he invites Thomas, as we heard in the Gospel today, to put his hand in Jesus’ side.

He does this so they would stop doubting and truly believe.

I know some of you have seen the new movie about the Apostle Paul out in theaters. It’s very good, I highly recommend it—a perfect way to spend a…snowy easter Sunday. It tells the story of the Apostle Paul in the last weeks of his life. He is imprisoned in Rome, awaiting his martyrdom. The emperor Nero has blamed the Christians for setting fire to the city, and so the small Christian community is facing persecution. Christians are forced into hiding, and those they capture are being put to death. They are covered in pitch and burned alive in the streets, they are arrested and sent to be torn apart by wild beasts in the Coliseum.

One of my favorite scenes, and this shouldn’t give too much away for those who haven’t seen it, is when this Roman prison guard is questioning Paul about his Christian faith. This Roman guard challenges Paul about the truth of the resurrection. Paul answers, “If Christ had not risen from the dead, then our preaching is useless, and so is our faith.” The Roman Guard responds, “So you have no doubts at all?” And with a steeled look, forged by the terrible suffering he has already endured for the Gospel, Paul answers, “Men do not die for things they doubt.” “Men do not die for things they doubt.”

St. Thomas in the Gospel today, for his moment of doubt, has for two thousand years been known as “Doubting Thomas.” But the Apostle Thomas is really a testament of the power of faith to transform doubt to apostolic zeal.

For, after this scene from the Gospel today, after he places his hands in the side of the Risen Lord Jesus, Thomas is transformed.

The scriptures record no further accounts of the apostle Thomas, but accounts from the early Church tell of Thomas’ apostolic and missionary activity in modern day Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, sadly, places where Christianity has been virtually eliminated in recent years. Finally, Thomas brought the faith to western and Southern India where he was martyred.

“Men do not die for things they doubt.” Through God’s divine mercy, the encounter with the risen Lord transformed Thomas’ doubt into a blazing faith.

Blazing faith, apostolic zeal, is not just “up here”, it’s not something we profess for an hour on Sunday and forget by the time we hit the church parking lot.

St. John reminds us that “For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments.” The commandments of the moral law, and the commandments of the new law, like the one Jesus issued on Holy Thursday: love one another, as I love you, and the mandate Jesus issues before his Ascension: go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Yes, each of us is inspired to say along with Thomas, Jesus, “you are my Lord and my God”, but like Thomas we must leave the upper room, to spread the faith, and to live that faith in our day-to-day lives.

St. Thomas the Apostle is a perfect example of this. Thomas, as we’ve said, carried the good news thousands of miles, to the middle east, and eventually to India. A pagan Indian King, upon meeting the apostle, was so impressed with his conviction and holiness that the King made Thomas a trusted advisor and his royal architect.  This is why Thomas the Apostle is the patron saint of architects.
Anyway, the king put at Thomas’ disposal the great wealth of his treasury for planning and building a new royal palace.  But Thomas donated the entire sum to the poor, telling the King, that this way he builds a greater palace in heaven.  For this Thomas was forgiven when the king’s dead brother appeared to the king and testified to the reality and glory of the heavenly palace.

Thomas was martyred, however, when he converted the king’s many wives to Christ and they insisted that marriage is between one man and one woman.

 “Men do not die for things they doubt.” St Thomas and the apostles, and countless martyrs whose names we will only discover in heaven, found the courage and willingness to follow Jesus anywhere, to speak Christian truth in front of kings and judges. They model the faith for us, showing us how the encounter with the Risen Christ changes us, and emboldens us for courageously living the moral life, generously engaging in Christian service, and zealously laying down our lives for the spread of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our Easter celebrations, our to deepen our conviction that Christ the Lord is Risen, that this truth may permeate every dimension of our life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2017: The Facebook Killer and Mercy

As you may know, last Sunday, Cleveland became the center of national news again. Sadly, a 74-year old man, Robert Godwin Sr, was shot and killed while walking on a sidewalk in the Glenville neighborhood. His murderer posted a cellphone video of the shooting on his Facebook account, leading many media outlets, to dub him the "Facebook killer".

Well, this week, Mr. Godwin’s family appeared on television. And in front of the entire nation, they forgave the murderer. Speaking for the family, his daughter Tonya said, “Each one of us forgives the killer… I forgive you and love you, but most importantly,” she said, “God loves you. God can heal your mind and save your soul.” She says, We want the killer to know, “that God loves him, we love him. Yes we’re hurt, but we have to forgive him because the Bible says if we don’t then the heavenly father won’t forgive us.” Of course she is referring to Matthew chapter 6 verse 15 which says “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Mercy, forgiveness, healing. This is what we celebrate today on this Feast of Divine Mercy. And the Godwin family proclaimed this truth, lived this truth so beautifully this week.

God loves us. God can heal our minds and save our souls. God calls us to forgive, and by that act of forgiveness, we ourselves are forgiven.

Mr. Godwin's son, Robert Jr, echoed the sentiment shared by his sister. He said,  “One thing I do want to say [to the killer] is I forgive him. Because we are all sinners…I’m not happy with what you did, but I forgive you.”

Here is a family, devastated by the senseless death of a dear loved one, but filled with the mercy of God.

This is our vocation as Christians: to be filled with the Mercy of God. Mercy was at the heart of Good Friday, Mercy was at the Heart of Easter Sunday. Today’s Feast celebrates the mercy lavishly poured out upon us by God and the mercy we are in turn to pour out for others.

Today’s feast of Divine Mercy stems from a series of private revelations given by our Lord in the 1930’s to a simple Polish nun by the name of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska. Now canonized, St. Faustina recorded these private revelations in a diary of about 600 pages detailing a whole program of devotion to the mercy of Jesus Christ. Consider the Lord’s timing in appearing to St. Faustina! The 1930s was the beginning of an era of unparalleled cruelty of man toward his brother, it saw the rise of totalitarian atheistic governments and rampant materialism, and the trampling of basic human freedoms like the right to life.

So, Our Lord himself gave to the Church this special and important gift, right when we needed it, to help us survive an era of darkness—an era which continues still.

In the pages of St. Faustina’s diary we learn of the Image of Divine Mercy. The Lord explained how this image is to help us remember God’s mercy and the need to show mercy. I encourage you to place the image of Divine Mercy somewhere in your homes.

In the Diary, we hear about the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which the faithful should pray with great devotion: asking God to show mercy upon our troubled world. The Lord said to St. Faustina, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” So, we do well to pray the Chaplet. If you don’t know how to pray the Chaplet, I’ve just given you homework. Learn it and pray it. Don’t turn on a television until you’ve done your homework!

Also in the diary St. Faustina writes about the Hour of Mercy, how our Lord desires that every day at three o’clock, his death on the Cross—the supreme sign and source of God’s mercy—be recalled in prayer and devotion. Every day we should stop at 3pm, and thank God for the gift of our salvation.

St. Faustina records in numerous places in her diary Jesus’ desire that a liturgical feast be instituted in honor of his mercy on the second Sunday of Easter. Thanks to St. John Paul II who instituted this feast, we honor our Lord’s wishes today.

Finally, Jesus told St Faustina, "I demand from you deeds of mercy... You are to show deeds of mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere."

Always and everywhere. To terrorists, show mercy. To murdering facebook killers, show mercy. To annoying neighbors and inconsiderate drivers, show mercy.  To people who you disagree with 

politically, show mercy and patience. To people who betray your trust, show mercy. To rude shoppers at the grocery store, show mercy. To God’s poor ones who reach out to you for help, show mercy. For souls trapped in cycles of sin and souls in danger of hell, pray for mercy.  For bishops, priests, and religious who so often fail in our solemn duties, pray for mercy. For children whose parents do not raise them in the faith, pray for mercy. “Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” You and I will not have peace until we become people of mercy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.