Dear Friends in the Risen Lord Jesus,
The First Sunday after Easter is known as Divine Mercy Sunday where our mother Church is inviting us to embrace and experience the infinite mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us in order to make his own.
The first reading invites us to grow in unity and self-giving. Hence, we may lead an exemplary life, as the first Christians who thankfully shared all their possessions with others and eat their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying service with all the people. The second reading is from the First Letter of Peter and tells us the same message today: “Rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” That salvation only comes because Jesus loves us and forgives us.
In today’s Gospel, from St John, we have the wonderful account of St Thomas, who doubts, who expresses his doubts and who, in the end, embraces completely His Lord, who invites him once more to believe. Time and time again, God offers his chosen people mercy which they do not deserve. But he offers this new reconciliation to the Church in a particular way. St John tells us that Jesus breathed on the Eleven and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thus, he gives the apostles the power to forgive or not forgive sins, which we know today as the sacrament of Reconciliation.
This most important sacrament is the ordinary means by which all sins, but especially mortal sins, are forgiven. There are many and various ways that venial sins can be forgiven such as receiving the Eucharist or making an act of contrition but mortal sins, due to their gravity, require the sacrament of reconciliation for forgiveness (CCC 1455-1458). We do not need to have any doubt about whether our sins are forgiven in this sacrament. When the priest says, “I absolve you from your sins,” it is Christ himself who is speaking, not merely the priest. As Jesus revealed to St. Faustina, “When the priest acts in My place, he does not act of himself, but I act through him” (Diary, 331). There is no more fitting time to go to confession than on Divine Mercy Sunday. So let us all take the time to examine our consciences and to renew our commitment to total conversion by approaching this sacrament with total confidence in God’s infinite mercy.
