Gospel today recounts disciple Thomas’ encounter with the risen Christ; Jesus
breathing on to the disciples saying ‘receive the Spirit’, gift of his peace and giving the
church authority to forgive sins. The community of the disciples, we the church,
receives the mandate to proclaim and build the kingdom of God in human hearts.
Thomas wasn’t with the others when Jesus first appeared to the disciples and he
refused to believe that Jesus rose from the dead; he demanded to touch the risen
Christ to believe! I think, Thomas was sad, felt defeated watching his master crucified.
He was processing his grief, and desired to have the same experience others had; and
perhaps he was pondering Jesus’ words, ‘I am the resurrection and life’. When Jesus
invited Thomas to touch the marks of his crucifixion, I imagine, he broke down in tears
of joy and confessed, ‘my Lord and my God’; he testified the reality of Christ’s
resurrection for generations to come, for we who wrestle with doubt and despair!
Showing marks of his crucifixion, Jesus gives all who hide in sorrow, in past wounds or
discouraged to take the leap of faith, an example to transform suffering. The cross, the
tragic symbol of cruelty becomes the source of hope and power to love. Story about
Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn: He was imprisoned by Stalin in a Siberian
hard labor camp. One day, slaving away in sub-zero temperature, he finally reached the
end of his endurance. Discarding his shovel, he slumped on to a bench and waited for
a guard to beat him to death. He had seen it happen to others and was waiting for the
first blow to fall. Before this could happen, a fellow prisoner approached Solzhenitsyn
silently. Without a word, the prisoner scratched the sign of the cross in the mud and
walked away. As he stared at those two lines in the dirt, the message of the cross
began to converse with his sense of despair. In that moment, he knew that there was
something greater than the Soviet Union. He knew that the hope of all humanity was
represented in that simple cross. And through the power of the cross, anything was
possible. Picking up his shovel, Solzhenitsyn slowly went back to work. In his fragile
humanity he felt the power of the cross that raised him up! Thomas too understood the
mystery of the cross as passage to a new beginning, resurrected life! He went on to
proclaim the risen Christ, his gospel and died a martyr’s death for Christ.
Today is Divine mercy Sunday. Divine mercy devotion was founded on Saint Faustina’s
visions of Christ. She wrote in her diary: ‘Jesus, I desire to reflect your compassionate
heart full of mercy, God’s merciful love for all mankind’. We know God as merciful love,
that implies in the power given to the church to forgive sins. Mercy of God removes guilt
and redeems; God’s mercy doesn’t leave us in a desolate state. We are called to be
merciful like our heavenly Father. Human’s cruelty, absence of mercy, creates suffering
and terror in families and in the world. Weapons, revenge, hatred rule the day and
peace is the casualty! The world might crucify the merciful but they are the power of the
risen Christ that transforms the world! We who hold the peace of the risen Christ in our
hearts are called to restore peace through forgiveness, commitment to love! God,
sending his Son, his sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection, appearing to the disciples
to gather them and sending them to teach, all were expressions of divine mercy-go
teach and live mercy. Just as Jesus embraced the doubting Thomas, Jesus gives
everyone, doubting and struggling, a touch of divine mercy. We live mercy when we
care for the needy, when close to the discouraged and lonely and bring comfort to the
sick by our healing presence. Risen Christ’s gift of peace is an invitation to encounter
his mercy! His mercy brings peace, builds the kingdom of God in our families and
communities.