Sunday, April 27, 2025
Christ is risen! Alleluia! On this Second Sunday of Easter, we continue to be immersed in the radiant light of the Resurrection. The Easter season, Eastertide, lasts for fifty days, beginning on Easter Sunday and culminating on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of Eastertide, known as the Easter Octave, are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. The Church regards the entire Easter Octave as “one great day,” prolonging the joyous backdrop and sentiments of Easter. Speaking to the faithful on Eastertide, Pope St. John Paul II invited the Christian community to “a new and deeper experience of the risen Christ, living and active in the Church and the world.” He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Pope St. John Paul II designated this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a day to reflect on God’s boundless and incomprehensible mercy, which He gives to all who seek it. A mercy that overcomes fear, conquers sin, and offers us true peace. In today’s Gospel reading, we learn that the disciples hid in a room with the door locked as they were gripped by fear after Jesus’ death. Jesus entered the room and, without judging or rebuking them for their lack of faith, he reiterated the following three times: “Peace be with you!” Not merely a greeting, but He bestows on them the profound peace that comes from reconciliation with God—the recompense of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The disciples’ fear gave way to joy, and despair turned to hope, all through the merciful presence of the Risen Lord. The Gospel narrative continues, “Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” —John 20:24-25.
Lest we hastily condemn Thomas for being suspicious of the news delivered by his fellow disciples, let us examine what brought him to that moment. Thomas had put all his hope in Jesus. He left his previous life and, for three years, followed Jesus throughout Galilee and Judea. He witnessed Jesus’ spectacular miracles and heard Him preach that He was establishing the Kingdom of God, as one of the chosen twelve, Thomas would have an important place in it. But then, Jesus was arrested and crucified. Everything Thomas hoped for seemed to have vanished. Does he now believe the spectacular news Peter delivered to him? Peter, who denied the Lord? Surely, it all seemed too good to be true for Thomas to believe! But it was true. All that Jesus said, including his promise to rise from the dead, was true. Jesus appeared a second time when Thomas was inside with the disciples. Jesus said, “Peace be with you!” and asked Thomas to put his finger to His hands and side. Immediately, Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” —John 20:28.
We pray that disappointments and despairs do not dwell in us or shape our beliefs, and that this Eastertide is joyful for each of us and refreshing to our prayer life!
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.