Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, or in the Catholic Church, Divine Mercy Sunday, as it was designated in the year 2000 by Pope John Paul II. When you think of mercy, what does it look like? What characteristics come to mind?

On the night that Jesus was arrested, he said to the disciples gathered around the table,

“This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’;
but after I have been raised up,
I shall go before you to Galilee.” – Matthew 26:31-32

In today’s Gospel (John 20:19-31), the disciples, although afraid from all that transpired and what it might mean for them, have reconnected and come back together. They did not allow what might be labeled as their failures (e.g. fleeing the scene, Peter’s denials) to override the example of Jesus and to tear them apart. Instead, they chose to embrace what was instilled in them by the grace of God and imparted to them by the mercy of God, extending both to each other.

Rather than looking to place blame or find fault with each other and giving rise to in-fighting and division, the disciples, still afraid and likely unsure, gathered together, and in their unity, Jesus appears to them, not upset at them for scattering or holding a grudge, but wishing them peace and extending grace to them.

Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.” – John 20:19-23

How do Jesus’s words above speak to you today? Share with Jesus what’s in your heart and on your mind as you consider these verses. Ask Jesus for his perspective.

Now, Thomas who was absent when Jesus appeared to the disciples doesn’t believe what is reported to him by the disciples who were there. Or, perhaps the thing that Thomas doesn’t believe without seeing for himself, is not the words of his fellow disciples, but the words of the Lord.

In other words, maybe the point is not that Thomas was expected to blindly take the words of his fellow disciples as truth, but rather that Thomas’s faith was so shaken by the experience of the crucifixion that it led him to some level of mistrust in the words that Jesus had spoken before his death.

Next, consider Jesus’s response? True to His nature, Jesus, again, doesn’t hold a grudge and doesn’t lose faith in Thomas, but as always, responds with understanding. In his mercy, Jesus appears again to the disciples at a time when Thomas is present. Jesus gives Thomas what he needs in order to be strengthened in his fatih, and at a time when he is able to best receive it.

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he 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.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” – John 20:24-29

What do you imagine the week between being told about Jesus’s appearance and reappearance was like for the disciples? For Thomas?

Reflect on your experience of moments of uncertainty or times when your faith has been shaken. What was it like? And how did you face it? In what ways was Jesus present to you, and how might you need that same presence today?

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name. – John 20:30-31

In his poem, The Universal Prayer, Alexander Pope wrote, “Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.” How has your heart been touched by mercy? And how you have extended mercy to others?

The Universal Prayer by Alexander Pope
Father of all! In every age,
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord! Thou great First Cause, least understood!
Who all my sense confined
To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind; Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will. What conscience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,
This, teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heaven pursue. What blessings thy free bounty gives,
Let me not cast away;
For God is paid when man receives,
To enjoy is to obey. Yet not to earth’s contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round: Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land
On each I judge thy foe. If I am right, thy grace impart
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
To find that better way. Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent. Teach me to feel another’s woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me. Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quickened by thy breath;
Oh lead me whereso’er I go,
Through this day’s life or death. This day be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,
Thou know’st if best bestowed or not;
And let thy will be done. To thee, whose temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies,
One chorus let all being raise;
All nature’s incense rise!