Jesus appears to his disciples

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday a feast that was ordained by Pope John Paul II who died coincidentally on a Mercy Sunday. Today is also a historic day as it is the canonization of Pope John Paul II the Great and Pope John XXlll in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome, Italy where millions of people including many Filipinos who remember the visit of Pope John Paul II to the Philippines, including us in Cebu are now in Rome.

Mercy Sunday is the Sunday after Easter Sunday and if you make a confession today, you will receive many indulgences for your sins. All this because of our Lord Jesus Christ’s unfathomable Divine Mercy… not because you deserve his mercy but rather because of God’s love for us.

I just love the way Jewish convert to Catholicism Bro. Bob Fishman (He has a TV show on EWTN) describes this unfathomable Divine Mercy of our Lord. He asks you to imagine that you fell into a wide ocean and sink into the bottom but surprisingly you do not drown. That’s because you are totally and completely immersed in the ocean of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Divine Mercy — that no sin, no matter how great would not be forgiven. So make an effort to do your confession today.

For today’s Sunday Gospel, this story is about the appearance of the risen Lord before his disciples. This was one of his first appearances before most of his disciples. He first appeared to Mary of Magdala and then to Cleofas and his friend on the way to Emmaus. You can read this scripture passage in John 20:19-31.

“19 On the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit 23 whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “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.”

26 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be disbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and My God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

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There are many important things to remember in this scripture story. First and foremost…that the glorified body of our Lord Jesus Christ was real flesh and bone. Yet he could pass through closed doors and appear in their midst. Secondly, when the Lord appeared to his disciples, he would sort of calm them by saying, “Peace be with you.” I can only guess that it is because most of them were unbelieving that the Lord had risen from the brutal scourging and his gruesome death on the cross. Seeing him alive was what the young would say, “An out of the world experience!”

With the Lord appearing already to his disciples… there was still one unbelieving disciple in the person of Thomas Didymus, who didn’t believe when his fellow disciples told him that they had seen the Lord. This is why the Lord appeared to his disciples once more… in order to show to Thomas that he was alive and that he could touch his wounds. Only then did the doubting Thomas make his expression of faith that we all say during the Holy Mass, “My Lord and My God

The Lord of course came up with one of his important teachings when he said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Faith is a gift from God. Though we have not seen God…but we have the Bible and the traditions of the Catholic Church that all these things happened 2,000 years ago and have been handed down to us from generation to generation that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly the Messiah, the Son of God who became man to save us from our sins and restore mankind with God in Paradise.

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