St. Mary's Catholic Church of Tomahawk, WI

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We are in the second Sunday of Easter, where we celebrate the feast of the Divine Mercy. The first reading tells us about the transforming power expressed by the apostles having encountered the risen Lord. They were transformed into the powerful emissaries of God’s grace. They were held in high regard and with respect, as they could work many signs and wonders among the people in the name of the risen Lord. We may not work great signs and wonders like apostles, but still can we figure an area of transformation in us after Easter?

In the second reading we hear about the beautiful Eschatological vision of the Lord to St. John who was commanded to write the vision he had seen. He saw the Son of Man, who spoke and revealed to him that he is alive forever and ever. John’s spirit-filled Lord’s day becomes a death-to-self. In the face of the Lord’s glory, John faces his own mortality, his own littleness. Yet the Lord encourages him with a message “Do not be afraid”. Similarly, our encounter with the risen Christ brings us the powerful message “be not afraid”.

In the Gospel we hear the risen Lord enters through locked doors and stands in front of the apostles who were in fear and heals a lack of courage by extending peace. This second Sunday is celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday as the Lord extends his mercy by empowering the apostles to forgive sins. The Lord transforms St. Thomas, whose faith emerges in encountering the risen Lord, where the Lord blesses all who believe in the resurrection without seeing. What is our faith response to this risen Lord? How do we experience his mercy and love and share it with others?

Fr. Aloysius Royan Anthony