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Today, we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy. Mercy comes to the apostles through Jesus. Jesus allows Thomas to look at Jesus’s nail marks in his hands and to place his hand into Jesus’ side to show him He has truly risen from the dead. He does not kick him out of being an apostle for not believing. Jesus restores Peter to his chosen post as first among the equals of apostles when he asks him to feed the sheep three times, restoring him from denying Jesus three times. He continues to appear to the apostles and begins each appearance with the words, “peace be with you.” Meaning, “calm down, it is truly me; you are not seeing a ghost. I have truly risen from the dead as I told you I would.” He does not abandon them for not believing; for not understanding. He offers mercy. Then, he reminds them and teaches us that what they have received they are to give away. They have time and time again received mercy from Jesus and now here in John’s Gospel and also found in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to the apostles, whose sins you bound are bound and whose sins you loosed are loosed. That means, he is giving them the ability, in his name and authority, to forgive sins. Personally, they have been taught and shown not to hold grudges or resentment. Pastorally, as shepherds for Jesus, they are to forgive sins.
I want to go back to Holy Thursday Night. On Holy Thursday night, Jesus changes the bread and wine into his body, blood, soul and divinity. He gives us the gift of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday. He gives us himself just before he dies. By giving us himself in the Eucharist, he never leaves us; we come to Mass and become more who He is calling us to be by consuming the one we are to become most like. We can visit him in the Blessed Sacrament any time we sit before him in the tabernacle or in the monstrance. He has not left us; he has not abandoned us. Do we believe? Jesus says to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe” When He says this, he is speaking to us. We did not spend three years walking the earth with Jesus running from his brutal death and seeing him appear to us three days later. But, we are here now about to receive him; receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Do you believe?
One of the first conversations Jesus has with the apostles upon his resurrection is that they have the ability to forgive sins. He doesn’t change the role of the priesthood from the Old Covenant. The priest has always been the intermediator between the sinner and the Lord God. What changes is the ability in which the priest does this now. Now, the one High Priest, Jesus is going to use the priest in such a human and superhuman way that it is through the priest that Jesus himself will forgive the sins. Do you believe? Many times Peter will say to Jesus, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Does Jesus ever depart from him? No! Jesus stays; Jesus stays with us and asks us to let him restore us and bring us the inner peace we long for. Satan wants us to continue to tell Jesus to depart from us because we are sinful. If I just tell Jesus I am sorry in my own head, I won’t have to really face him; I will take care of it myself. But, Jesus wants to give us that peace and wants to destroy that sin by taking it to the cross. Do you believe?
If the community of faith struggles to believe in the gift and power of the Eucharist and struggles to believe in the ability of Jesus to forgive sins through the priest in the sacrament of reconciliation as his preferred way to forgive sins, then is it any wonder there is a dearth in vocations to the priesthood? Everything else a priest does can be done by someone else in the church except change the bread and wine into the Body Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ and absolve people of their sins. Do you believe this is Jesus Body and Blood that we receive; do you believe Jesus truly wants to forgive us through the sacrament of reconciliation?
The first three Hail Mary’s in the Rosary “For an increase in faith, hope and love.” Let us pray for the communities to have a greater gift of faith. Jesus’ mercy is being poured out on us all the time like a libation; let us allow us to be soaked by his mercy and believe. Believe in his mercy; believe in his gift of himself to us in the Eucharist; believe he chooses to forgive us in the sacrament of reconciliation. Then, let us be together at the Mass and continue to frequent the sacrament of reconciliation. Let us continue to allow the Divine Physician to pour out his Divine Mercy on each one of us and together as a community of believers.