Father Dan Juelfs
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Divine Mercy Sunday (Second Sunday of Easter), April 16, 2023

As the father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven then and whose sins you retain are retained. 

A number of years ago, Pope John Paul II, designated this second Sunday of the Easter celebration to be recognized or celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. Proclaiming and reminding ourselves of that purpose of Jesus’ mission. To proclaim the mercy of the father. To help us all be reminded again of the reality of, on one hand our sinfulness, but more importantly, the reality of God’s mercy and God’s desire. That we share in. As we hear this account, we find Jesus proclaiming that mission to the disciples through the apostles. “As the father sent me, so I send you.” They’re called to continue that process of sharing the mercy and the forgiveness of God. 

We, as church, are called to continue that same process. To continue to allow the mercy of God to be known by how we act, what we do, how we treat one another. All the various ways in which we are able to show the love of God in our lives, but that’s now our mission. It’s the mission Jesus gave to the apostles. Consequently, to the whole church. That’s you and I, and that’s our call to continue to go out and to do that.

For the disciples, at that point, there shouldn’t be an element of surprise or shock. Jesus said, he intimated to the fact they would forgive sins, or at least intimated to Peter. The account where he said, “you are Peter, on this rock, I build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I give you the keys in the kingdom of heaven,” and so on. There was a sense that at least Peter had been given that awareness this was what God was, this is what Jesus was about. But now this is a very direct, very absolute kind of command to all of the apostles. To the 11 and were present, minus Judas obviously, and eventually, with Thomas, but he was minus the first day. 

This was something different than what they had done before. They had been sent  out to proclaim Jesus’ presence. He sent them about ahead of him two by two, to go to the towns and villages he was going to speak at; he was going to proclaim his message to. But it was again, they were messengers. They weren’t doing it. They weren’t the ones who were actually proclaiming forgiveness. That wasn’t their task at that point. But at this point now, they were sent out to do that. 

And in order to accept that they had to have a great deal of faith. What was the basis of that faith? That Jesus had truly risen. That is what gave them the ability to trust. If Jesus had truly risen then, then they could believe that what he was asking them to do was possible. 

How did they know that he was risen? By seeing the nail marks in his hand. By seeing the opening in his side. Seeing those wounds was what allowed them to believe. The accounts says he showed them his hands and his side when Jesus appeared to them. 

What was it that Thomas asked? Until I can put my hands and my fingers in his nail marks, my hand in his side, I will not believe. When Jesus appears a week later and Thomas is now present, Jesus simply invites him to believe. Come put your finger here. See my hands. Bring your hand. Put it into my side. He invites Thomas to have that same experience the other apostles had the week before. John doesn’t tell us in the Gospel whether Thomas actually touched him, whether he  actually did that, but we have the account of his faith. “My Lord and my God.” Thomas, in experiencing the  visible Christ with the wounds could believe that Jesus had truly risen and now he’s able to respond. 

As we come  together as God’s people, as we come together as church, how’s our faith established? What is it that gives us that assurance? We’re not going to be seeing the visible signs of Jesus’ suffering. We’re not going to be putting our hands in his side. That’s not the way we’re going to come and believe, and Jesus said, blessed are those who have not seen but still believe.

We come to believe because of the faith of those who have shared that with us, who have come to that conviction. Our experience is not going to be the personal experience of the risen Christ, but it is the personal experience of the church, the people who have come to believe in him. Who have come to put their confidence and their trust in the life of God has shared.

We too experience the mercy and the forgiveness of God through his church, through the people who have come to believe. We continue to express the care and the mercy of our God. Not simply to receive it, but to make it present. To share it with those around us.

Our mission is the same mission that Jesus gave to the apostles. To carry out his work. To carry out what it was that he had come to do. In recognizing those who’ve come to believe, recognizing those who trust in the reality of the risen Christ, even though they have not yet seen him, that our faith is brought about. 

We come together with our wounds, with our failings, and like Thomas, sometimes it’s the wounds that help us to believe. The fact that we see those wounds in ourselves. We see those wounds in people around us, and yet, we also see that faith, that confidence. Oftentimes, it’s the wounds that help us to know the reality of God’s goodness. The reality of God’s care for us.