The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Every year, I look forward to this particular Sunday, where we’re invited to soak in the infinite mercy of God. Through the Cross and then up from the empty tomb, Jesus pursues us, with a love that is constant, unconditional and undeterred. He lavishes His mercy upon us.
In today’s first reading, we see a movement of this mercy—“Many signs and wonders were done among the people… they carried the sick out into the streets... so that when Peter came by, his shadow might fall on them… people also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”
There’s a magnitude to what is taking place. God’s life and victory are conquering sickness and sin in new ways, through His Church. People keep coming in great numbers to participate in this divine encounter. It’s a movement of God’s life and mercy, that we are all invited into.
All of us. Even Thomas.
I love Thomas. I think he gets a bad rap. We don’t know why he wasn’t around when Jesus first appeared to the Apostles after rising from the dead. Maybe Thomas was out getting food or something. And I’d probably be mad too if I missed out on Jesus materializing out of thin air. Or I could easily think that, because the Lord chose to come when I wasn’t there, that God had forgiven everyone else for abandoning Him during His Passion except for me. I have a lot of empathy for Thomas.
Thomas is real. He’s vulnerable and authentic. He’s struggling and he’s honest about it. And the Lord comes to meet him in that place, and extends mercy to him. “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.”
Jesus extends His wounds to each of us, His heart, His infinite love and mercy. He longs to renew us in His love, to work signs and wonders among us. He seeks us out and invites us to enter into His wounded hands and side. And we have to enter into these places, because His death and resurrection is our path to life. Our sickness, sin, brokenness, and unbelief have to come into contact with the saving mercy of God. And we are called to be transformed by this encounter, again, and again, and again.
God’s heart full of mercy, poured out for us, is the greatest gift we could ever receive. May we enter into this divine love, always, and rejoice that His mercy endures forever.
Alyssa Trutter is a woman journeying through life with the Lord. She is a consecrated lay woman and has served in ministry for almost 20 years. She loves being outside, baking, laughing, writing, adventuring, and having heartfelt conversations with friends and family.