Sunday of Divine Mercy

Today's Mass Readings

Missouri is popularly known as the “Show-Me State.” While the exact origin of that title is somewhat uncertain, most Missourians will admit that it does seem to describe the practical, down-to-earth folk of the rural areas of the state. “I have to see it to believe it.” Today’s gospel brings us face to face with Thomas the Apostle, sometimes called “doubting Thomas,” who needs tangible evidence that Jesus is risen before he will believe. “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). Is there not a bit of the Missourian and the apostle Thomas in each of us? Do we secretly or unconsciously search for proof that Christ rose from the dead?

Could it be that Thomas’ fundamental doubt, and perhaps ours as well, is not so much belief in the Resurrection as it is in believing that God actually loves us? Do I doubt that God cares for me as an individual? Throughout the entire Old Testament, we hear again and again of God’s endless love for his people. We hear it repeatedly in today’s responsorial refrain: “His love is everlasting” and “His mercy endures forever” (Ps 118). Do these words just wash over our heads each time we hear them? Even on a human level, we place our confidence in the promises of those who truly love us. How much more so should we believe in the unconditional love of God who is always faithful to his covenant, and who has sworn never to abandon us?

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we are reminded that God loves us so much that in the fullness of time, he sent his Only-Begotten Son to take on human form, to suffer and die in our mortal flesh in order to redeem us from our sins by destroying death and rising from the tomb. Through Jesus’ sacrificial love, he has shown us the path that we are to follow in order to have eternal life in Him. “…these [signs] are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31).

This act of love, witnessed by so many of Jesus’ disciples, calls forth a response on our part, an act of trust, an act of faith. Jesus says to Thomas and to all of us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Can we say along with St. Thomas with complete confidence today, “My Lord and my God!”?

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB