Pope at Mass on Divine Mercy
Sunday: Let us rise with Thomas
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| Pope Francis at Mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Saxony |
Pope Francis celebrates Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday,
inviting us to accept Jesus’s mercy as the Apostle Thomas did, and to show that
mercy to those around us. (playback included)
By Sr Bernadette M. Reis, fsp
“Last Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s resurrection; today we
witness the resurrection of his disciple”. This was Pope Francis’s opening line
of his homily for Divine Mercy Sunday.
He celebrated the liturgy at the Church of the Holy Spirit
in Saxony, about 200 metres from St Peter’s Square. Once again, due to Covid-19
security measures, the Mass was celebrated without the presence of the
faithful.
The disciple’s resurrection
One week after Jesus rises from the dead, the disciples are
still “fearful, cringing behind ‘locked doors’”, Pope Francis continued.
Jesus’s response to their fear is “Peace be with you!”
Starting over
Jesus “starts all over”, Pope Francis explained.
The “resurrection of his disciple begins”: with “faithful,
patient mercy”. In this way, we learn that God does not get tired of lifting us
up when we fall. God is like a father who allows us to take tentative steps and
picks us up every time we fall.
“The hand”, the Pope said, “that always puts us back on our
feet is mercy”. God knows we will continue to fall. But He will always pick us
up because “He wants us to look to Him” rather than at our failings, the Pope
said.
“The Lord waits for us to offer Him our failings so that
He can help us experience His mercy.”
Thomas resurrects
All of the disciples had abandoned Jesus. They all felt
guilty. Rather than “giving them a long sermon”, Jesus shows them His wounds.
Once Thomas, who had not been there the first time, touches
those wounds, “he overtook the other disciples. He believed not only in the
resurrection,” but in God’s boundless love as well.
When Thomas’s “wounded humanity enters into” Jesus’s wounds,
he rises from the dead, Pope Francis stated.
“When God becomes my God… we begin to accept ourselves
and to love life as it is”
Fragile crystals
Thomas helps us understand how precious we are to the Lord
in our vulnerability, like beautiful, fragile, but precious crystals. If we are
like that crystal, Jesus’s “light of mercy will shine in us and through us in
the world”.
This light will help us wait for other people, as Jesus
waited for Thomas, so no one is “left behind” as the entire world recovers from
the Covid-19 crisis.
Crisis worse than Covid-19
"Selfish indifference is a worse crisis than the
pandemic, the Pope warned. It is “spread by the thought that life is better if
it is better for me”.
He begged us to learn from the first Christian community.
Because they had “received mercy and lived with mercy” they pooled all
their resources together, and distributed it to those in need.
“This is not some ideology”, the Pope clarified. “It is
Christianity”.
Our future
Pope Francis concluded his homily urging us to welcome the
current crisis as an “opportunity to prepare for our collective future”.
The recovery effort needs to embrace everyone, he said.
Otherwise, “there will be no future for anyone.” The “simple and disarming love
of Jesus” revived Thomas’s heart.
May we too accept Jesus’s mercy and show that mercy to the
most vulnerable, Pope Francis said. That is what saves and builds the world.
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