Acts 4:32-35 / 1 John 5:1-6 / John 20:19-31
It has been one week since we celebrated the great feast of our faith, the feast of Easter, the feast of the Resurrection.
Yes, it is the great feast of our faith, because we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, that He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death, and with that He brings us new life.
That is what we profess as our faith, that the Risen Christ is our Lord and God, and in Him we too will renounce sin, reject the devil, profess our faith in God and live our lives as God's beloved children.
In not so many words, it is “NO” to the devil and “YES” to God. That was expressed last Sunday as we renewed our baptismal promises by renouncing sin and the evil one and professing our faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Well, one week has passed, and let us ask ourselves how we have been keeping up with our baptismal promises.
Some may be a bit surprised and say, “Oh, I made a promise huh … Oops …” Some may be rather realistic and say, “If promises are made to be broken, then I am sorry that I broke the promise.”
Whatever it might be, the fact is that keeping a promise is easier said than done.
But breaking a promise of faith is not a light matter because it is expressed in unfaithfulness to God and wrongdoing to others.
But thanks be to God for His faithful love for us and in His mercy He forgives us.
This Sunday is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. In the gospel, we heard that the Risen Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples the Holy Spirit who is the love of God.
Then, eight days later, the Risen Lord Jesus came back again, and this time it was for Thomas, who demanded to see the wounds of Jesus.
Jesus did not reproach Thomas but showed him mercy and forgiveness. And Thomas responded with those five profound words: My Lord and my God.
So, one week after the celebration of Easter, Jesus comes to us to breathe on us the Holy Spirit, the love of God, and to show us His five wounds, that express God's mercy and forgiveness.
There is a story of a little boy who went to visit his grandparents, and he was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target.
As he came back to Grandma’s back yard, he saw her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit the duck squarely, and the duck fell dead.
The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to look up and see his sister Sally watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So, Johnny did the dishes.
Later, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again, she whispered, “Remember the duck.” So Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, finally he couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck.
“I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. But I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
Just a story to let us know that God is loving and merciful. We are weak, we have sinned, but we must renew daily our faith in God who is love & mercy.
We repeat with St. Thomas those five profound words of faith “My Lord and my God” and we meditate on the five wounds of Jesus.
May God's love and mercy that flow from the five wounds of Jesus grant us strength to overcome our sinfulness and to protect us from the snares of the evil one.