This is the day the Lord came to Thomas and told him to put his finger into the wounds of his hands and his hand into the wound in his side and believe - Thomas immediately exclaims, "My Lord and My God!" How many of us repeat this same profession of faith at each Eucharist? The Gospel begins with Jesus appearing on the first Easter Sunday evening to the Apostles without Thomas. Jesus breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit" and then tells them that the sins they forgive are forgiven and the sins they retain are retained. It is fitting that Pope John Paul II named this day, a week after Easter, as Mercy Sunday. We see Jesus coming back to Thomas, now with the other disciples. Jesus had forgiven all for abandoning Him and now he comes to Thomas who was not with the others on Easter Sunday and no doubt had a bad week because of it. Now we also can rejoice as Jesus said that we are blessed because we believe without seeing.
This is also the Sunday that Pope Francis is canonizing two wonderful former Popes: John XXIII and John Paul II so Rome is full of people celebrating and all of us are full of Easter hope and joy.
Here in my community, we are having the area for a party to say good-by to two of our community: Shelley returns to Canada after her sabbatical with us and Ellen returns to Rome after only three months with us this time but she is doing a great work on the Formation Team for our young sisters preparing for final vows. The next group does not come until September but she will also be doing other things in Rome and Europe.
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