One of the first things amateur philosophers like to do is ask seemingly impossible riddles. For example, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Or when they study the philosophy of God: could God make a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it. They will argue for hours whether the answer is yes or no, but ultimately it is a silly question. God is all-powerful and by definition, anything he creates is within his power. Perhaps more important to our reflection today, on this Divine Mercy Sunday is this riddle: Could God create a sinner so sinful he couldn’t forgive him? It might seem to be a silly question, but it is one that many people end up answering with a loud “yes.”
In our gospel we find the apostles huddled in the upper room. The doors are locked because of their fear of the Jews and perhaps due to their shame of abandoning Christ. Could Jesus forgive the weakness of his closest followers? Right away, we see that he does as he says, Peace be with you”! But even after Jesus appears to the ten who are present, we have Thomas, who was out doing other things. He refuses to believe unless he can put his finger in the nail marks and his hand into the side of Jesus. A week later Jesus returns, and notice, the doors are still locked; even after the apostles saw the risen Lord, they were still afraid, still hiding behind locked doors!! Again Jesus comes to them, gives them his peace and invites Thomas to touch his wounds that he might believe. Jesus will continue to appear to those who believe in him over the next forty days to strengthen them and prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Pay attention to how often they will need to hear these words-- “Peace be with you”. They need to hear these words before they can go out and spread the good news of his resurrection. Even though they have seen the risen Christ, even though one of them has touched the wounds of Christ, they still struggle with fear and disbelief.
But the apostles aren’t the only ones who react to fear and shame by locking themselves away in a room. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that there are times that we find ourselves in the very same position in our spiritual lives. For each of us, there are parts of our lives, sins from the past, areas of our hearts that we lock up and hide behind closed doors. Perhaps, just a week ago, we came to this church with some good resolutions from our Lenten journey. Perhaps we saw some things in our lives that we could change so that we might grow closer to Christ. And maybe Good Friday inspired us to live better lives, as we reflected on the many ways that Jesus suffered and died to set us free. But now, a week after Easter, how have our lives changed? What difference has Easter made for us? Or do we find ourselves like the apostles; aware of the empty tomb but afraid and confused. What are those things in our hearts and in our lives that we hide behind locked doors because of fear or shame?
Maybe we are more like the apostle Thomas in our disbelief. Perhaps we can’t quite bring ourselves to believe the good news of the resurrection until we see some proof for ourselves.
And these are some of the reasons that the Church gives us this Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday; to remind us of the great love God has for us. Despite all our doubts, despite all of our fears, even with our worst sins, Christ is always present with those comforting words we hear in the gospel today: “peace be with you.” In a special way, we are reminded of the great gift that we have in the sacrament of reconciliation, where our sins, sufferings and shortcomings are wiped away by God’s endless mercy. In this sacrament of confession, Christ enters the upper rooms of our hearts to offer us peace where there is fear, forgiveness where there is self-hate, --- and faith where there is doubt.
His mercy is always present. But he doesn’t force us to accept it. We have to do our part by inviting him in. And so today, on Divine Mercy Sunday I invite you and challenge you to make use of this great sacrament of mercy and forgiveness. I urge you to experience the peace and forgiveness that only the Resurrected Christ can give you by going to confession. There is no sin too great, no situation too hopeless for our Lord, who has conquered death itself. As St. John Vianney said: ‘the sinfulness of man is like a grain of sand compared to the mountain of God’s mercy.’
My prayer for each of us here today is that we experience the joy of this Easter season by encountering the divine and endless mercy of our God. May we let go of the fear and doubt in our lives that causes us to hide from God and from others by going to confession. In this way we will become a people of the resurrection, a people who hears and experiences the words our Lord speaks to each one of us, “peace be with you.”
