All but one of the apostles abandoned Jesus as he was being tortured to death upon the cross. But now when he has risen from the dead and returns to see the disciples, he greets them with the words "Peace be with you!" If you were in a similar situation, would those be your first words to those who had abandoned you? I know I would struggle to be so gracious. But Jesus underwent his suffering out of love for all of us, offering his pain for the spiritual healing of all of humanity. He took our sins upon himself so that we can be cleansed.
The outpouring of God's Mercy is what we celebrate in a special way on Divine Mercy Sunday. Christians have often envisioned God as angry, eager to mete out punishment. But what Christ teaches us through the Gospels and what the Divine Mercy devotion highlights is that God is always ready to fill our lives with his Mercy, eager to cleanse us and heal us. Sins are the things that separate us from God's love and therefore bring sorrow and misery into our lives. If we persist in sin, we suffer the consequences of being separated from God's goodness. But if we turn to God for his Mercy, he restores us and shares with us his eternal divine life, imbuing us with his infinite love.
As Christ shows mercy to us, we too must show mercy to others. In fact, Christ says in this Sunday's Gospel passage, "as the Father had sent me, so I send you." Let us think about the full import of that statement. The Father sent Christ to serve and suffer and die upon the cross. We too must serve one another, suffer for one another, and be willing to sacrifice ourselves for each other, even to the point of death. At the same time, just as Christ was raised from the dead and was glorified, if we follow him, we can expect to share in his resurrection and glory.
A part of our heavenly glory will be our resurrected body. We see in the resurrection narratives that the new body of Jesus is still physical, since he can eat and can be touched, but his body is also spiritualized, since he can appear and disappear at will. We too will receive such a glorified body, which will no longer be bound by the limitations and suffering of this life. No more hunger or exhaustion or illness or aging. No more death. We will receive eternal life in Christ.
We see in today's Gospel passage that Thomas doubts the reality of the resurrection at first. For this moment of wavering, he has often been called "Doubting Thomas" throughout Christian history. But that title is hardly fair. After he encounters the risen Christ, he exclaims: "My Lord and my God," which is the most profound declaration of Christ's divinity by any of the apostles quoted in the Gospels. On this special feast day, let us turn to Christ, ask him to fill our lives with his Divine Mercy and let us say to him with our whole being: My Lord and my God.
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The readings for Divind Mercy Sunday, Cycle B are:
Acts 4:32-35
Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn 20:19-31
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Divine Mercy Image.