Divine Mercy Reflection
Jesus, their hope and their master had been taken from them. Jesus was gone. They
wait in an upper room, behind locks doors. I’m sure in the minds of the disciples they
were convinced that their experience with a Messiah had been a failure. In ordinary
situations, they were not likely to see Jesus again. How could they not have been upset,
afraid? I think of poor Thomas. He has received such bad press, but really is his
reaction to missing Jesus so unusual?
Thomas was doubtful that everything he had hoped for, everything he had dreamed of
had been taken away from him in the awful action of the crucifixion. Is his reaction really
so strange?
Thomas’ plans, his expectations for his life in the world, for the life of the world to come
had been taken away with the suddenness of those people’s responses to a mob
mentality. Can we really blame him for his doubt?
Thomas was doubtful, at least at first, that the promise of the Word Made Flesh might
be made true. Are his thoughts, the questions about Jesus so very different from what
we would be experiencing?
Thomas the doubter was a human person, with human responses and human
reactions. We must ask ourselves what is the state of our faith, what is the condition of
our discipleship? Despite his doubts, Thomas’ life was transformed by the encounter he
had with Christ. He became one of the great evangelists offering the most profound
confession of faith in all of the Gospels. Are we willing to proclaim –“My Lord and my
God.” Thomas’ profession of faith guides us as we move through these rich days of the
Easter season, these early days of spring, this season of renewal.
Thomas’ profession inspires us to be better disciples. Thomas’ profession inspires us in
so many ways. In the words we speak, words of peace, the words of hope. Words of
love. Isn’t that what Easter is? In the breaking and blessing of the bread, we are being
fed, and see our deepest dreams come true. Isn’t that Divine Mercy. God presents
Himself to us as He did to Thomas. In the Paschal mystery God’s Mercy pours out on
you and me. The question is, can we become vessels of His Mercy?