This Sunday we continue our COVID19 isolation and as we do that we have been told that the isolation will be continuing for at least another three weeks. But as we keep our distance and remain in isolation we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. There are many people out there during this pandemic who need both our help and our prayers We remember all the various front line workers and the work that they are doing we also remember all the people who have died as a result of COVID19 and their families and we bring all of them to the Lord.
I was sitting here a few days ago thinking that Lent, Holy Week and Easter Sunday have come and gone so quickly even with the ongoing covid19 pandemic life seems to be going at breakneck speed. Many people think that Easter begins and ends on Easter Sunday but it doesn’t stop there, the celebration of the season of Easter goes on for 50 days and ends on Pentecost Sunday. I wonder what the Apostles would think if they were to come down to us these days and find that we are celebrating the Death and Resurrection of Jesus that took place 2020 years ago, they would be amazed especially as they thought everything was over with the Crucifixion on Good Friday.
In this Sundays Gospel reading the Apostles were still huddled together behind locked doors, mulling over the shocking experience from the week before when all seemed to be lost. Then Jesus appeared to them and assured them that He was alive. His message must have troubled them as well when he told them: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” In the same way as the apostles were sent out we are sent out to bring his message of god’s mercy and love to other people . Then of course there is doubting Thomas who heard the witness of the those who saw Jesus but, like so many of us today he wanted more proof. Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” That is a favourite quote for us, who have not “seen” the risen Christ in person as the disciples did. We have come to believe though we have not seen him in the flesh but he is with us in the midst of our communities through so many different people especially during these days of lockdown. When Jesus says to the Apostles Peace be with you the Peace he is talking about is much more than the lack of conflict. True peace, gives us happiness, since it is built on trust in God and one another. The gospel tells us how Jesus gave his followers peace because they trusted him.
In spite of the scepticism of Thomas and so many others, throughout history Jesus offers us the same peace of heart mind and soul. As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday we remember the joy, the hope, the grief and the anxieties of the people in our time those we know and those unknown to us and we bring them to the Lord. The people throughout the world are hurting so much because of the things that are happening within it with many people wondering what will happen next and none of us really know that what will happen or when but we trust in God to be with us and show us the way. These days are filled with uncertainty and anxiety and we bring all of it to God who is rich in mercy and love for all of us. May all of us be witnesses to the love and mercy of the Gospel as we bring the caring face of God’s mercy to the people wherever we are called to be in these difficult times.
Fullerton T 