2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - May 1, 2011: Touching the Heart of Christ

Mass Readings for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - May 1, 2011:

"Then he [Jesus] 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 unbelieving, but believe."  (Jn 20:27)

The joy of our Easter celebrations will be magnified this Sunday as two great celebrations merge into the Second Sunday of Easter.  First of all we will be celebrating what has come to be known as "Divine Mercy Sunday", a feast instituted by John Paul II in the year 2000 to celebrate the riches of divine mercy opened to man through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:4).  In addition to this feast, all eyes will be on Rome this Sunday as Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the beatification of John Paul II - who will now be known as "Blessed John Paul II", and will be one step away from sainthood.

So what do the Sunday readings, the feast of Divine Mercy, and John Paul II have in common?  A lot!  But I would like to focus on one salient aspect which relates to the above quote from this Sunday's Gospel.  The quote recounts the moment when "doubting Thomas" touched the glorious wounds of the Risen Christ and was healed of his disbelief in Jesus' resurrection from the dead.  For St. Thomas the Apostle, this is the moment in which everything fell into place and he recognized Jesus Christ as God - not a distant and unknown god, but God who has taken on flesh, overcome the tyranny of sin and death through his cross and resurrection, and who is now present with us until the end of time.  By putting his hand into the pierced side of the resurrected Christ, St. Thomas touched the heart of Jesus and was forever transformed.  It's interesting that St. Thomas would later be martyred by being pierced through with a spear while proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in modern day India.

Like St. Thomas, John Paul II touched the heart of Christ during his lifetime and brought the joy and hope of that encounter to the entire world - and we have all seen the living face of Christ in JPII.  Unlike St. Thomas, who physically placed his hand into the side of Christ, John Paul II touched the heart of Our Lord and encountered Him on a daily basis through faith - above all in moments of silent prayer and contemplation, and through the sacraments.  The experiences of St. Thomas and John Paul II are very different, but both are very real - and the lives of both these men testify that they truly encountered the living Christ, albeit in different ways.

John Paul II witnessed to the world that Jesus still lives in our midst, that He is real, risen, present and accessible through faith.  We can therefore have complete trust in Him and, in the words of John Paul II, "throw open wide the doors to Christ" without fear or hesitation.  We too can touch the heart of the living God through faith and be transformed by the fire of divine love burning brightly in the heart of the resurrected Christ.  John Paul II brought that divine fire of love and hope to the world in one of its darkest and bloodiest centuries.  His life invites us to seek out Christ living in our presence, to open the doors of our hearts to the Lord, and share the love and mercy that transforms our hearts with those that God has placed in our lives.

When John Paul II was elected pope in 1978 he was unknown to world.  But a French reporter by the name of Andre Frossard did know who he was and was able to capture what John Paul II was all about in a few simple words: "This is not a Pope from Poland. This is a Pope from Galilee."  Through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II, may all of us come to experience and know ever more profoundly the divine love and mercy of the Risen Christ living in our midst, and may we walk fervently with Him all the days of our life.