Culture

Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Scripture Reflection for April 27, 2025, Sunday of Divine Mercy

Wednesday, April 23, 2025Culture

Submit a Letter to the Editor

He knows only too well the human condition. As Thomas discovered: he has the wounds to show for it.

Acts 5:12-16
Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
Rv 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
Jn 20:19-31

Who doesn't appreciate having a second chance?

Divine Mercy Sunday is all about second chances -- how God offers us the gift of mercy to repent and begin again. Coming one week after Christ's own Resurrection, when he began a new life, the church reminds us that we can start over, too. We are given an unlikely protagonist to show us how it's done: Thomas.

We encounter him every year on the Sunday after Easter. Just days after the greatest celebration of faith, we encounter the Gospel's most famous story of doubt: the story of Thomas, who demands proof before he will believe.

We live in an age when we are surrounded by Thomases -- not only doubters, but disbelievers. Atheists, agnostics, secularists, whatever you want to call them. More and more, they are seeking to challenge believers, and are making their voices heard in the public square.

The apostle Thomas experienced that. But his life took an unexpected turn. After the apostle adamantly, even angrily, expressed his doubt, Christ didn't dismiss him. He didn't write him off.

No. Christ came back.

He gave Thomas another chance. He offered him the gift of faith -- and Thomas, overwhelmed and awed, accepted. Christ does that with all of us.

When we least expect it, he will break through locked doors of the human heart. He will find us, in our fear and uncertainty, our skepticism and our doubt. He understands our misgivings, our hurts, our infirmities and weaknesses. He knows only too well the human condition. As Thomas discovered: he has the wounds to show for it.

And he wants to give us another opportunity -- another chance. That is part of the message of this Sunday. On Divine Mercy Sunday, we embrace the power and beauty of God's forgiveness. It is the Sunday in which we remind ourselves of God's tender mercies -- when we strive, more than ever, to let Him break through the locked doors of our hearts.

It is a time for fulfilling the promise of the Resurrection, the glorious hope of Easter. We know that Christ has left the tomb. But if we choose to, so can we. We can step out of the tomb of selfishness and sin, cynicism and fear. We can feel the healing light of God's care. We can take that second chance.

God's mercy, Divine Mercy, assures it. We don't have to go it alone; the Sacrament of Reconciliation offers a way to be healed, uplifted, restored. We can be made new.

Thomas found that out. He realized that believing entails more than seeing; it takes a leap of faith. The great blessing of his life was that Jesus understood that, for some people, faith is a struggle. Christ didn't dismiss Thomas or write him off. He did something better.
He came back.

He gave Thomas another shot, another chance, another opportunity to accept what seemed unacceptable and to believe what was, frankly, unbelievable.

And the doubting apostle, stunned into humility, surrendered his doubt and embraced his salvation.

History tells the rest of the story -- how this once-Doubting Thomas eventually traveled as far as India to spread the Gospel and convert countless people to Christianity. Their descendants have multiplied, to the point where they are now called "Thomas Christians." One of the most common names in all of India is, in fact, Thomas.

You want to ponder the power of one man's "Yes?" There it is.

Divine Mercy Sunday is an opportunity for us to invite Jesus into our own locked upper rooms and pray that he will break through all the barriers that might be keeping him out of our lives.

It reminds us of a humbling gift of our faith -- the gift of a second chance. A do-over. An opportunity to be reconciled with our God after all our blunders, errors, misgivings and sins.

How merciful is our God? He gives us grace to begin again. How deeply does he desire that? When we need him, our Lord comes back.

- Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog, "The Deacon's Bench."