Eight days ago, we and all the rest of the 1.3 billion Catholics throughout the world gazed with wonder and gratitude on the Resurrection of our Lord.
Today, we turn our eyes back to the little group of Apostles who, eight days after Easter Sunday, were gathered once again in the upper room. And Jesus appears to them, once again, in the glory of his resurrected body, effortlessly passing through their locked doors and their hidden fears.
The first thing he does is go after the one lost sheep whose heart is astray: he lets doubting St Thomas touch his glorious wounds, mercifully removing all doubts that had separated him from the rest of the tiny church.
And then he looks into the eyes of his Apostles, breathes on them, and gives them the power and task to forgive sins in his name. This was the start of the sacrament of confession, which ever since then has been bringing other stray sheep back into the Good Shepherd's merciful care.
Almost 20 centuries after that encounter between Christ and his Apostles, in the year 2000, Pope John Paul II established this first Sunday after Easter as a universal Feast of the Church in honor of that Divine Mercy.
In so doing, he was fulfilling a request our Lord himself made in his appearances to the Polish nun, St Faustina Kowalska.
Just the thought of Christ's mercy fills us with confidence and hope. But it should also fill us with humility. If Christ is so eager to spread the news about his boundless mercy, it's because we need that mercy.
It's because sin is a reality in our lives and in our world, and sin causes real damage that only Christ can repair. This is the tough side of God's mercy - the reality of sin.
Being Images of Christ's Mercy
In the revelations of his Divine Mercy, Jesus asked St Faustina to commission a painting. The painting would show Jesus standing, dressed in a white alb, with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand opening his heart.
Out of his heart there were to be streaming two beams of light - one white and the other red. He explained what those rays symbolized:
- The two rays denote Blood and Water.
- The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous [baptism].
- The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls [the Eucharist].
- These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross ...
- Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (Diary, 299).
Today Jesus is reminding us of the power and abundance of his mercy. We should be full of joy and confidence at this reminder. But what about all of our brothers and sisters who aren't with us? What about all our neighbors, colleagues, and classmates who have never experienced Christ's mercy or never heard about it?
Jesus died for them too. And he is sending us to be messengers of his mercy to them. By our kind, truthful words, avoiding all gossip and useless criticism, we shine forth the white light of Christ's mercy.
And by our selfless acts of service to others, seeking no reward except the joy of following Christ, we become extensions of the red ray of Christ's very own life, given up for us on the cross.
Today, as Christ feeds us once again from the very fountain of mercy, Holy Communion, let's ask him for the grace to be living images, living paintings, of his mercy in this world so wounded by sin.