The Merciful Love of Jesus Christ
Jesus’ disciples were locked in a room for fear of the Jews. In His merciful love, Jesus appeared to the disciples who had deserted Him during His Passion and Death, and His first words to them were: “Peace be with you!” Jesus the afflicted has become Jesus the consoler. Jesus’ words fulfilled what He said to them at the Last Supper: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give it to you… I am going away, and I will come back to you.” Jesus kept His promise. He returned to His disciples and He gave them His peace – a peace that will remain with them forever.
Christ breathed on His disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. He also gave them the authority to forgive sins: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Christ passed on His mission of mercy to the Apostles, and in turn the Apostles to their successors, the bishops and the priests. With the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, Christ made the forgiveness of sins available to mankind through the ministry of the Church.
Thomas, who was absent when Jesus first appeared to His disciples, doubted the testimony of the other disciples. It was only after Thomas touched the hands and side of the risen Christ that Thomas finally believed. For some people like Thomas, doubting is a necessary step in their faith journey. However, in His merciful love, Jesus shows us that a doubter can become a true and firm believer. Thomas declared: “My Lord and my God,” and He gave the highest acclaim to Christ in all the Gospels.
What is so special about today’s Gospel is that we can see how Christ bestows His love and mercy upon His disciples: their sorrow and fear has turned into joy, their loss has turned into fulfillment, and their doubt has turned into faith. Today is also Divine Mercy Sunday. God’s mercy is infinite, no matter what we have done in the past. He will never reject a repentant sinner, and he will never refuse an appeal to His mercy from a humble and contrite heart.
The Easter season is comprised of fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. It is a great time to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit for the seven gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The beautiful prayers of the novena to the Holy Spirit can be found in our website.
Next Sunday, May 5, we will celebrate the crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We invite your participation by bringing in flowers from your home garden to offer to Mary. We will have our children’s procession immediately after the 10:30am Mass.
This year, Mothers Day is May 12. We wish to honor our mothers on their special day by asking for sons and daughters to prepare the fellowship lunch after the 10:30 am Chinese Mass. Please sign up with Susan Lee.
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