In 2000, Pope St. John Paul established the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. Every year we hear the same Gospel on this Sunday, the one in which the apostle Thomas encounters the Risen Christ. Thomas, who happened to be gone when Jesus appeared to the other apostles, had trouble believing them when they said that Jesus really was risen. Suddenly the risen Lord appears to them all again, and He invites Thomas to touch His wounds. Notice that detail. We might expect the body of the risen Lord to look perfect, but the wounds of crucifixion are still there, and Thomas is invited to touch them. It is a tender scene. Each of us carries the wounds of life, just as the Risen Lord still did. We are called to participate in the healing mission of Jesus by having merciful eyes to see the woundedness of people, of our culture, of our very Earth. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis asks us to “be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.” We all need to do this as individuals, but Pope Francis also calls on nations and international organizations to respond with mercy. Sometimes our first instinct is to blame victimized people or nations, to have hardened hearts. Merciful hearts come from the experience of being wounded and then healed. In the Divine Mercy picture, found now in virtually every parish Church, the graces flow from the heart of the Christ — pierced by the centurion’s sword after death, the heart from which blood and water flowed. How have I experienced being healed of my wounds? Who have been the healers in my life? What opportunities is God presenting to me, to help apply the healing, merciful love of God to things and people right around me? Good questions for Divine Mercy Sunday.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post April 27, 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy: A Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.