The Second Sunday of Easter is also known as "Divine Mercy Sunday". What a beautiful truth of faith this is for our lives: the mercy of God! God’s love for us is so great, so deep; it is an unfailing love, one which always takes us by the hand and supports us, lifts us up and leads us on.
In today’s Gospel, the Apostle Thomas personally experiences this mercy of God, which has a concrete face, the face of Jesus, the risen Jesus. Thomas does not believe it when the other Apostles tell him: "We have seen the Lord". It isn’t enough for him that Jesus had foretold it, promised it: "On the third day I will rise". He wants to see, he wants to put his hand in the place of the nails and in Jesus’ side. And how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not abandon Thomas in his stubborn unbelief; he gives him a week’s time, he does not close the door, he waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own poverty, his little faith. "My Lord and my God!": with this simple yet faith-filled invocation, he responds to Jesus’ patience. He lets himself be enveloped by divine mercy; he sees it before his eyes, in the wounds of Christ’s hands and feet and in his open side, and he discovers trust: he is a new man, no longer an unbeliever, but a believer.
Let us also remember Peter: three times he denied Jesus, precisely when he should have been closest to him; and when he hits bottom he meets the gaze of Jesus who patiently, wordlessly, says to him: "Peter, don’t be afraid of your weakness, trust in me". Peter understands, he feels the loving gaze of Jesus, and he weeps.
Let us think too of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus: their sad faces, their barren journey, their despair. But Jesus does not abandon them: he walks beside them, and not only that! Patiently he explains the Scriptures which spoke of him, and he stays to share a meal with them. This is God’s way of doing things: he is not impatient like us, who often want everything all at once, even in our dealings with other people. God is patient with us because he loves us, and those who love are able to understand, to hope, to inspire confidence; they do not give up, they do not burn bridges, they are able to forgive. Let us remember this in our lives as Christians: God always waits for us, even when we have left him behind! He is never far from us, and if we return to him, he is ready to embrace us.
The parable of the merciful Father is a proclamation of tenderness, trust, mercy. The Father welcomes with joy His son who returns. Pope Francis reminds us that God always awaits us, He always welcomes us, He always forgives us, because God's love is greater than any sin.
In the Gospel Jesus tells Thomas to put his hand in the wounds of his hands and his feet, and in his side. We too can enter into the wounds of Jesus, we can actually touch him. This happens every time that we receive the sacraments with faith. It is in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we encounter the boundless love of his heart..
On September 26, 1937, Jesus told Luisa that it is God who possesses, by nature, the desire of always giving. As we possess our breathing and breathe continuously - even if we didn’t want to - so God possesses the continuous Act of always giving. Even if the creature, ungrateful, does not take what God gives - though still remaining around Him to praise the perfection, the goodness, the sanctity and the generosity of His Supreme Being – God keeps waiting with a patience that only He can have, for those creatures who might take what others rejected, as the triumph of God’s Love toward the creature. And the Divine Love is such that God adapts Himself to them, giving to them little by little, because being small, the creature cannot take what He wants to give her altogether. But God’s love must be continuous. God would feel as if He were fainting and losing our breath if He did not give.
The Divine Will wants to be the life of the creature - the greatest act, the most exuberant love, which only a God can do. Now, in order to be possessed by her, the Divine Will donates to her Its virtue of prayer; and she takes the lead to confirm the gift, making all created things pray. She imposes herself on God’s Love, Power and Goodness, making His Love, Power and Goodness pray. And all God’s Attributes pray; even His Justice, Mercy and Fortitude turn into prayer. No one can miss if the Divine Will wants to do an act or to give a gift. When all have prayed - even God’s very Divine Attributes - He confirms the gift. The prayer of this creature becomes universal, and each time she prays, she has such power that all our things pray - even God’s Attributes. She has been given, with that gift, the right over all.
God’s delirium of love is exactly this: we want to be won by the creature. When she wins, God’s Love is unleashed, and our fidgets and delirium of love find life within the creature, and rest.”