2nd Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 
April 24, 2022

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

In this Easter season, we continue to celebrate the victory of the Cross and Resurrection. The victory of life over death, of good over evil.

As I was saying, it is also a beautiful day for the universal Church as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.

As we know, this tradition of celebrating the Sunday after Easter as Mercy Sunday was started by St. John Paul II, inspired by the visions of St. Faustina who, as we know, was a religious sister and visionary who lived in Poland and was canonized by St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000.

In one of her visions, Jesus told St. Faustina: “Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy."²

So this is the beautiful message that we are reflecting on in this second Sunday of Easter. The mercy of God and also the importance of our faith.

Our Gospel today invites us to enter into and relive that original second Sunday after the Resurrection. 

As we heard, on Easter night, Jesus had appeared to his apostles. But we also know that St. Thomas was not there. So one week later, on the second Sunday, Jesus returned.

And as Jesus comes to his disciples, he comes also to us. As we heard today in the Gospel: “Where the disciples were …  Jesus came and stood in their midst.”

My brothers and sisters, this is the beautiful reality of our lives. We are his disciples now — and this morning, once again, Jesus comes to be where his disciples are. He’s with us, as we know.

So he is standing before us this morning, just as he stood before his disciples on those first nights of Easter. And today, as he said to the apostles, Jesus said to each one of us: “Peace be with you.”

Now, as I was reflecting on this passage — the beautiful passage of the Gospel — so I thought about how often the word “peace” is used in the stories of the Resurrection. And I thought how much all of us want peace — in our lives and in our world.

Of course, we are praying for peace in Ukraine, and in every place on earth where there is violence and injustice. We pray, too for peace in our society, and peace in our troubled hearts.

And again, this is what Jesus comes to bring us. This is the meaning of his precious wounds, which he shows us today in the Gospel — the nail marks in his hands, the wound in his side where the soldier’s lance pierced him. Jesus is bringing us peace, in a special way.

And also, St. John Paul II and St. Faustina, they explained to us, by his precious Wounds — the great story of God’s mercy was written.

St. John Paul II said: “Divine mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified."³

Mercy and peace.

So today, in the presence of Jesus’ holy Wounds, , he calls us, as he called to St. Thomas on that second Sunday: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe!”

So today let us give thanks to God for his mercy. In the presence of his holy Wounds, let us say today, as St. Thomas said: “My Lord and my God.”

And “my Lord and my God” means this: I trust in your Mercy, and I will follow you, I will serve you.

And as I often say to you, our faith in Jesus Christ gives our lives a mission. We are saved to saved others. The mercy that we have received, we are called to share with others.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel today: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

He is sending us out to bring his peace, his good news, his mercy, and his life to the world. And we carry out this mission, as we know, in our daily lives. In our relationships. In our responsibilities for the people that God puts in our lives.

We saw that beautiful example, beautiful image of St. Peter in the first reading. He was so filled with God’s grace that when his shadow touched someone — the person was healed.

This is a beautiful symbol for how we should live our Christian lives. Of course, we do not have to perform “signs and wonders” as the apostles did. But we can, and we should, bring a “healing touch” — we should bring peace, and mercy, and compassion — into every circumstance.

So the beautiful message of divine mercy is that Jesus gave his life for each and every person — without exception. And every person is precious in his eyes.

So my dear brothers and sisters, as St. Thomas did, let us draw near to the heart of the risen Lord. Let us accept the beautiful gift of his mercy in our lives. And let us share that mercy with everyone — the peace, and the love and the presence of Jesus in our lives is what we are sharing with everybody else — and we ask for that grace especially today.

And may Holy Mary, the Mother of Mercy, help us to follow her Son, and to be merciful as he is merciful.⁴