Daughters of St. Paul: Discover Hope With Us Come Close to the Wounds of Jesus

Discover Hope With Us Come Close to the Wounds of Jesus

Hello Friend,

This Sunday we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast recently established by Pope St. John Paul II and of great significance during this Year of Mercy. In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis challenges us to courageously take a stand for mercy. Mercy is the “stance” towards others that we need to have as followers of Christ.  In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus visits the apostles after his resurrection, but Thomas is missing and refuses to believe that Jesus has indeed appeared to the others. In many ways, Thomas’s doubt was understandable. But Thomas might also have resisted believing the news because he felt guilty for fleeing when Jesus was arrested. He shows how his resistance is unusually strong when he says, “Unless I…put my finger into the nailmarks and my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  When Jesus visits the apostles again and Thomas is present, Jesus invites Thomas to touch the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. For years, I have interpreted this Gospel passage as an invitation to faith, putting our belief in Jesus. But in this Year of Mercy, this Gospel has come to mean something else to me. By inviting Thomas to touch his wounds, I believe Jesus is inviting him to believe especially in his mercy. I believe Jesus is inviting us to come close to the wounds that his merciful love wouldn’t let him avoid.

Perhaps Jesus is inviting us to come close to the woundedness of our world today, to find his merciful love in the wounded people of our world.

It’s significant that Jesus offers the wounds that he bears in his body as proof of his resurrected presence. In inviting Thomas to touch his wounds, Jesus invites Thomas to touch the tangible evidence of Jesus’ suffering and death—a suffering and death that Jesus wants Thomas to understand differently—not from a perspective of guilt, but from a perspective of love and mercy.  Perhaps Jesus is inviting us to come close to the woundedness of our world today, to find his merciful love in the wounded people of our world: people who suffer, who undergo injustice, even people who perpetrate evil and injustice. We cannot truly avoid the woundedness of our world; we are surrounded by it. We ourselves are wounded by human weakness and sinfulness. We carry with us the wounds of sin: of injustices committed against us, of injustices that we have committed against others—whether big or small. We all know people who have been deeply wounded by other wounded people. Entire countries and cultures suffer the wounds of sin and injustice.  How can we find mercy in the midst of all this woundedness? By remembering that it is through Jesus’ wounds, through Jesus’ passion and death, that we are saved and brought to new life.  For the disciples, Jesus’ wounds were tangible proof of Jesus’ Resurrection, but also of his love for them, his vulnerability with them, and of the new life that Jesus came to bring them. For Thomas, Jesus’ wounds became a source of strength, faith, and grace. What do Jesus’ wounds mean for each of us, in our woundedness? Just as God could transform the death of his Son into resurrection and salvation, so God can transform our world’s woundedness into openings for his grace. When we open ourselves to Divine Mercy—to receiving and then sharing God’s mercy—then we participate in that transformation of woundedness into blessedness.  During this Divine Mercy Sunday, which is such a gift, let us pray for the gift of openness to receive the loving mercy that Jesus came to bring and that the Father wants to pour over the world.  Each year I try to spend this time after Easter deepening my trust in God's mercy. If you need to catch your breath and re-focus on the graces of the Year of Mercy, these books below would be super companions on the way.  Sr. Marie Paul Curley, FSP 7 Secrets of Divine Mercy Diary of St. Faustina Jesus, Mercy from God's Heart Jesus, I Trust in You Mercy in the Teachings of the Popes 7 Secrets of Confession You Did It to Me See all Divine Mercy titles

Explore the WORD Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you" In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus says three times to his apostles, "Peace be with you." Ceslas Spicq in his Theological Lexicon of the New Testament points out that Jesus doesn't just wish peace, he gives his disciples peace, "My peace." Jesus' own peace spreads to his followers like sap into the branches of the vine and fills them with the fruit of his sacrifice so that his followers will "know nothing of fright or panic even in the midst of the worst catastrophes." Jesus peace isn't the tranquility that has no fear of being troubled in its quietude. It is now the possession of the disciple's heart that has been strengthened by the One who has overcome the world! (pg 431) When you stand before Jesus who offers you this peace, what stirs within?