Doubting Thomas and Divine Mercy

04-27-2025Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

In our Gospel for today, Jesus, on the first day of the week, entered a locked room where the disciples were hidden for fear of the Jews. Their Lord and Savior had been crucified by the Romans; their special friend, companion, and Lord was gone from their lives. I’m sure that you could cut the confusion and fear with a knife.

Into this locked room, Jesus suddenly appears and says, “Peace be with you!” and he shows them his hands and his side. And our Gospel tells us that the disciples “rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Can you imagine their wonderment and joy? What would it have been like to be there? In this busy and demanding world, could your life use some wonderment and joy?

But Thomas was not present in that locked room and needed definitive proof. A week later, still living in fear, the disciples were in the same house, this time with Thomas. Our Lord invited Thomas to touch his hands and side. Thomas did so and responded: “My Lord and my God!” Jesus then said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

So, my friends, we are in that group that Jesus was talking about! We have not seen. We have not physically touched his hands and his side, yet we believe. And… our Lord calls us “Blessed.” And Blessed are we! Do we “live, move and have our being” in that “Blessedness?”

By the design of Pope Saint John Paul II, this Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is something that goes far beyond a particular devotion. As explained by the Holy Father in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), Divine Mercy is the loving manifestation of God in a history wounded by sin.

In Latin, misericordia (which means “mercy”) comes from two words: miser (misery) and cor, cordis (heart). Jesus puts our unhappy situation due to sin in His Father's heart, which is faithful to His plans. Jesus Christ, dead and risen, is the supreme manifestation and action of Divine Mercy.

How “Blessed” we are to have access to our Lord’s Divine Mercy!

All the best… in Christ,

Father Wilson