Scripture Reflections for the Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy

"Friends, Revelation comes from the Latin “Revalatio,” which in turn translates the Greek “Apokalypsis”—which means, literally, “unveiling.” This final book of the Bible, which has fascinated Christians and non-Christians for..."

"The Church has placed the book of Revelation at the end of the Bible, as the culmination of the entire Biblical narrative—precisely because it has relevance for all Christians of..."

“Despite failure, denial, and doubt, Jesus wants to keep a relationship with us. That is why he is always willing to give us another chance.”

“I KNOW when I forgive, I stop evil in its tracks. I choose to stop the chain. And, when I do, the cold darkness of the world will be replaced by the warmth of love, the light of truth, and a cleared road to proceed with life as it emerges.”

“we don’t take time to appreciate how much we have in fact learned from other people, and how that is not only an inevitable thing, but actually a good thing”

“Hidden wounds do not heal. Can we offer these to God, allow ourselves to be touched, to experience mercy, to offer mercy?”

“Let us not only remember and give thanks for those people in our lives who, like Mary, remind us to love and serve the weakest and most forgotten, but also let us consider how we can love the forgotten and unloved in our own lives”

“A key consequence of Christian belief is asking for forgiveness from God and our neighbours, and in turn, offering that forgiveness to those who offend against us”

“these marks remain, to be reminded that the resurrection does not wipe away the crucifixion but completes it, as Christ has not come back unharmed to this life, but rather has gone forward, indelibly marked with the signs of his self-giving love, into the new kind of life that began with his resurrection”

“If only we realized just how astonishing the resurrection is, we might spend more time thinking about it. Not since the dawn of creation has anything so significant happened.”

“just as with the ugliness of Christ on the Cross, so is the ugliness of our lives. But in all my faults and sin – I believe that Jesus will be there beyond that threshold, showing me, showing all of us that believe in Him that He is real and that Heaven is real, that eternal life is real, and that His Divine Mercy is real.”

“it is because God has freely given the gift of faith – something we have not earnt and never could – that we are able to profess Christ’s resurrection”

“sometimes we need to witness with our own eyes both the miracles and the sins to direct our hearts and strengthen our faith to walk the path towards justice that Jesus called us to follow...these signs of hope and suffering can give us the encouragement to know that God is present.”

“Divine Mercy is the outpouring energy of our suffering Messiah. This is God’s way of battling injustice. Our world is transformed through the power of suffering love and mercy.”

“What matters is not how much or how strongly we believe but that we do believe. It matters that we remember those times when God has been present to us, revealing that there is more to life than betrayal, war, violence, hatred, greed, selfishness and power-seeking.”

“Abraham, our father in faith, answered God’s call, and travelled with hope of the promise God had given him, that he would become the father of many nations. The Church travels in hope with the promise of everlasting life with God.”

“Thomas was not a man who was lacking in courage or commitment to his Lord...He questioned in order that he might understand and believe. And once he understood, his surrender to the truth was total: ‘My Lord and my God’.”

“We do not touch Christ’s pierced hands, but in baptism Christ himself acts, and he touches us with his pierced hands. In baptism we receive the grace of true faith, which makes our belief in the Lord reasonable.”

“Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us to form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit”

“So there is a hidden irony in this passage. Thomas refuses to be touched by what his fellow disciples recount but still wants to touch the living Christ. He shuts his ears to the truth and yet, in a way his own words testify that he eagerly yearns to believe.”

“Is our faith, then, really faith in other people, as fallible as ourselves (so we might think) and a good deal less educated? Actually, no. Our faith is in God alone: faith is assent to God and trust in him.”

“Eternal life is a depth of knowing and loving, in which we dwell in God and God dwells in us. It is to know God just as God so completely and perfectly knows himself. It is to love God just as God so completely and perfectly loves himself.”

“Peace puts an end to fear, peace puts an end to anger about the present and anxiety about the future, peace reassures us of God’s love and friendship”

“the peace of Christ is something alive and active, something liberating and dynamic...it does not grant us an immunity to pain and suffering, or even death, rather it enables us to face all these painful realities and triumph over them in union with the victory of Christ himself”

“In his risen body Jesus bears the marks of his passion. He does not hide them. He wants it to be clear to us that when we admit our sins, our mistakes, our failures, and our brokenness in light of his resurrection, they can lead to life.”

“here we are the week after Easter and so many years after that greeting of peace, longing for shalom”

“The risen Christ is more powerful than our fear, more powerful than anything that frightens us. That's the good news of Easter, the good news of Christianity.”

“'Peace with you' is not just about fear any more than it's just about the absence of war, it's a greeting of hope for wholeness, completeness, soundness, health, safety.”

“I encourage you going forward seek out Thomases. Bring to them the joy of how you have been brought to new life by Christ.”

“And when Jesus said three times “peace be with you” these words were the reality of the life lived in Christ. That the pain of loss and death is real but the comfort, hope and love for life beyond death can only be our reality in serving, living and believing in the life, death and resurrected Jesus”

"Friends, today’s Gospel reveals the dawning of Christianity. With his wounds bared to his disciples immediately upon his arrival in their midst, Christ shows to us also our greatest sins..."

“In this reading we realize how important it is that each one of us comes to the light in our own way and time”

“Why the showing of the wounds?...Because the peace that Jesus gives is not around death but rather through it.”

"The resurrected Jesus appears to his disciples, fearful they were to be targeted next, to deliver a message of peace with a mission. This is the mission of the Church,..."

"Despite the locked doors, the risen Jesus stands in the midst of the disciples. This is a beautiful icon of the Church, the community gathered around Jesus and filled with..."

“The wounds of Jesus are shown for a very simple but very important reason. He wants his disciples and us to know what sin has done.”

“If you say 'I will accept, in a skeptical way, only those things that I can immediately verify...things that I can touch and see and measure,' you will have control over a very tiny portion of reality”

"The risen Jesus breaks through the locked doors of our fears and brings us the Shalom (the full flourishing) that God wants for his people. Then he breathes into us..."

“Jesus says: “Peace be with you.”...the peace of knowing no matter where we are in life, God comes through the locked doors of our fears and finds us to let us know he has gifts of himself for us. His mercy finds, then sends us.”

“The risen Christ is beyond the limitations of our life, yet intimately with us every day”

“Jesus comes to us most powerfully in our weakest moments – in the uncertainty, the isolation, and the times of hurt. When we are in these times and we have the awareness that we need Him and no one else can help us – He comes to us.”

“The closed room represents the disciples’ fears and anxiety which blocked them from seeing Jesus. Jesus brought them freedom by breaking into their inner room of fear. They realized how powerful they were when they accepted God’s power at work in and through them.”

“Amidst all their fear and worry and in their locked up state – Jesus came to them. In the biggest storm of their lives – He came to them bringing them peace and calm. And when He comes again to Thomas, who in his sorrow and despair had isolated himself from the rest of the group the week before – He again brings peace and calm.”

"Our wonderful readings for the second Sunday of Easter speak to us of three apostles, who were three pillars of the Church: Peter, John, and Thomas. Each one functions as..."