Deacon Ed Shoener,
Divine Mercy Sunday
It is always amazing how God speaks to us. Often through the most anonymous and simple people. Sure, God speaks to us through great and prominent people, such as Pope Francis, but more often he speaks to us through the ordinary people and events of our life.
God used a young and poorly educated nun, who lived in Poland and Lithuania in the mid-20th century between the two World Wars, to bring His message of mercy to us. This young nun, who we now know as Saint Faustina, died in 1938 at the age of 33 in a small convent in Poland.
Christ, Mary, and several Saints appeared to her in private revelations. Her spiritual director told her to keep a diary of these revelations. In one vision she experienced Christ directing her to have a painting made of him.
This is a print of that painting – called the image of Divine Mercy. The Church calls today, the first Sunday after Easter, the Sunday of Divine Mercy.
Look at this Divine Mercy image and see where Christ’s wounded hand is pointing. St Faustina wrote in her diary that she experienced Christ saying:
“These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls.”
And beneath the image is the saying Christ instructed St. Faustina to have put on the painting – “Jesus I trust in You.”
You know, it is significant that we always read the Gospel story of doubting Thomas on today, Divine Mercy Sunday. Doubt and the need for Mercy go together.
Thomas was grieving the death of his friend Jesus and he doubted that Jesus really rose from the dead. And Christ knew that he doubted.
Christ also knows that we too often doubt if God is present in our lives, especially when we are grieving or anxious or depressed.
Christ sought out Thomas when he doubted and came to him, as the Gospel story tells us, even though the doors of the room where Thomas was were locked.
So to for us, Christ seek us out and comes to us, even when the door to our heart may be locked because of our doubts.
Like he did for Thomas, Christ invites us to see his wounds and draw near to him with our doubts.
This is what St. Faustina wrote that she experienced Christ saying to her about us poor sinners who doubt:
“Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest.”
Christ wants to pour out his mercy on us when we are anxious, depressed or wounded in some way and struggling to find hope. We need to just crack the door to our heart open just a little to let Jesus in.
Notice that in the image of Divine Mercy and in the doubting Thomas story, Christ does not hide his wounds; they instead became a part of him. Rather than destroying Him, His wounds are turned into sources of love and mercy.
Christ knows that we are all wounded in some way. He knows that some of our wounds are deep and painful - and they will never go away.
These permanent wounds can be caused by grief, trauma, addiction, illness, war - or for so many other reasons. We will never forget these wounds.
Christ also had deep and painful wounds. And Christ’s wounds did not go away either. And he did not forget them.
But they were healed, and his healed wounds are a sign of hope.
Because Christ lives in each one of us, Christ can bring healing to our wounds and, amazingly, use our wounds to bring hope into the lives of the people around us.
This is a mysterious - and miraculous gift. I see God do this all the time in our parish grief support ministry and in our mental health ministry.
As part of those ministries, we have spiritual support group meetings where we reflect on the presence of God in the deep sorrow and woundedness brought on by grief or mental health challenges and illnesses.
And one thing I have seen repeatedly is how God uses these wounds to overcome doubt and bring hope into the world. When we turn these wounds over to Christ we are gifted with the grace of humility and a greater understanding of our need to trust in God.
God turns these wounds into a deep empathy that lets us, in turn, help other people who are wounded, who suffer and doubt, by giving them hope.
What he said to the Apostle Thomas, he says to each of us when we are wounded, when we doubt – “Put your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe”.
Look at this Divine Mercy image – the wounded Christ is speaking to us - his wounded sisters and brothers- through this image. He wants us to say - Jesus, I trust in You. Amen