God Is Doubtless Merciful
Divine Mercy Sunday, B
2009-04-19
John 20:19-31Not long ago, my wife and I had the blessed privilege of visiting Rome. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but what a faith-inspiring place!
The great Basilicas, St. peter’s Square, the holy shrines, the beautiful frescos and murals, statues of every saint you could’ve possibly heard of…and even more saints that you’ve NEVER heard of: this is what you’ll find when you enter the “eternal city.”
I remember on one occasion, we were walking to St. Peter’s. We turned a corner, and bumped into a small, but beautiful church tucked away on a side street. To our amazement, we discovered that this was the Church of the Holy Rosary in Rome. We instantly felt “at home,” and went inside and prayed.
But, when reading today’s Gospel, I couldn’t help but remember another church we visited. It was the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. Before entering the church, a travel guide told us that among the relics that are contained in that Church are large portions of the True Cross, thorns from the original Crown of Thorns, a nail from the Crucifixion, and…guess what else…the finger of St. Thomas.
That’s right, you can see the actual finger that tradition tells us was placed inside the wounds of Christ.
I turned to Bess, and said, “I gotta see this to believe it.”
But, then, I thought about the irony of what I just said: that I would NOT believe that the holy relic of St. Thomas’ finger was there, unless I saw it with my own eyes. How much like Thomas I was!
Thomas told his fellow apostles, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Of course, this is why we lovingly refer to him as “Doubting Thomas.”
I say lovingly because we really can’t fault Thomas. I think we ALL can identify a bit with his doubting nature. We have to “see it to believe it.” Why is this so?
Well, I don’t know about St. Thomas’ time, but I do know that now, we live in a culture of facts, data, statistics and proofs. We are so eager to convene panels, inquiries and investigations into baseball steroid scandals, banking mismanagement and the assassination of JFK because we want to get at the truth of the matter; we want to know what REALLY happened.
And, our fact-finding has found it’s way into the realm of religion, into our very faith in Church and in God.
Who here hasn’t seen one of many, many “documentaries” on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel that investigate what the Christian Church teaches about God and Salvation?
There is no shortage of so-called experts, archeological reconstructions and dramatic re-enactments. And the scientific findings revealed cause us to ask many questions.
Did the great flood ever happen? Could there be a “natural” reason for the parting of the Red Sea? Did Judas ever write a Gospel, and did the Catholic Church suppress it? Could Jesus have actually just been a man who married Mary Magdalene and parented a child, and His royal lineage is the true Holy Grail?
The questions are endless. But do we ever get closer to the Truth?
Of course, the teachings of the Church that Christ established, the Church into which Jesus “breathed life” in today’s Gospel reading, are rarely given more than a fleeting mention. And, they are usually casually dismissed due to “lack of convincing evidence.” If you can’t see it, touch it or reproduce it in the laboratory, it just simply can’t be true.
So, naturally, what all this leads to is…doubt. In short, we have all become Thomases.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of evidence that what the Catholic Church teaches is true, that it really did happen. But we will surely be lost if we focus solely on the evidence; if we hope to “prove” the existence of God, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist or that Christ REALLY died for our sins.
Yes, evidence is fine, but we must look at the evidence through the eyes of faith. You see, ours is a Church of faith: faith in God’s love, faith in God’s promise and faith in God’s mercy.
The Letter to the Hebrews defines faith as, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Notice that faith is NOT defined as believing in something because all the facts prove it to be so. It is, rather, believing in things we CAN’T see.
Now, St. Thomas was given a great gift, he got the evidence he thought he needed. Christ tells him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
Christ is telling St. Thomas about the rest of us; those who believe because of the faith God has given us, and that we have accepted.
So without our faith, we doubt. And when we doubt, we miss out on so much that God has in store for us…so many of God’s gifts.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, celebrated throughout the Universal Church on this, the Second Sunday of Easter. And God’s endless mercy is one of His greatest gifts to us.
No matter who we are, no matter what we have done…no matter how bad the situation…God loves us and God will accept us back into His good graces if we are truly repentant.
And God isn’t asking that we take all this on ourselves and by our own power rise up out of the doldrums of sin to meet Him. No…He’s already done that! By HIS Passion, we were saved; by HIS stripes we were healed. We need only to take one small step toward Him, and He will rush to meet us like the Father of the Prodigal Son.
That’s what this Sunday is all about: God’s Divine Mercy, an unlimited, inexhaustible wellspring of mercy waiting for us, if only we have faith!
We CAN be forgiven, if only we have faith!
We CAN be assured of God’s Divine Mercy. If only we have faith!
Have no doubt! God loves us, and wants us to return to Him and to His Church.
Pope John Paul II felt so strongly about Divine Mercy Sunday, that he attached a Plenary Indulgence to it that is in effect to this day.
Hold on…did he just say “Indulgence?”
That’s right, our Church still strongly believes and teaches the truth and eternal value of Indulgences – the full or partial remission from temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. Indulgences call upon the great Treasury of Merit to which the Church has the keys to distribute accordingly, for the benefit of the faithful.
And all you have to do to receive this Plenary – or FULL – Indulgence is receive the Eucharist (which you are doing today), receive Sacramental Confession within one week before or after Divine Mercy Sunday and say a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father. It’s that simple!
If you do these things in a spirit of detachment from sin, and you do them with the intention of gaining the Indulgence, then the Divine and loving mercy of God will be unleashed upon you and you will truly experience the depth of His love.
Yes, you CAN be assured of God’s mercy.
Forget the facts and figures. Forget the pundits and experts. Forget the theories and conjecture. You don’t even need to put your finger in His wounds.
Focus on your faith. Believe in the One, True God and in His endless Divine Mercy.
And, if you do this, you too will have the opportunity to say as St. Thomas did, “My Lord and my God!”
Yes, God is merciful…God is doubtless merciful.