We have a lot packed into this afternoons's Mass. Today brings about the conclusion of the Octave of Easter, today is also the canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II as saints of the Church, today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and we of course cannot forget that today is also the first communion of forty-two of our young children. Today Saint Thomas leads the way for us by pointing out our need to believe and profess that Christ has truly risen. The Easter season is about this reality especially during its octave where we continue to proclaim Christ resurrected on Easter Day. Saints John XXIII and John Paul II both displayed this reality to us through their unending trust in Christ especially through their proclamation of the Gospel message. The devotion to Divine Mercy is about this because it causes us to truly discover Christ and thus to conform our life to His abundant mercy. Our children will give us this example today when they will receive our Lord present in the Holy Eucharist for the first time with great faith.
When we present ourselves to receive Holy Communion we are instructed to say "Amen." The minster you will walk up to will either lift up Christ's Body or His Blood saying either "The Body of Christ" or "The Blood of Christ." At this moment the proper response to give is "Amen" which is to say "I believe." What then does our response of "amen" or "I believe" really mean? Have we ever given thought to what we are actually consenting to? We know that those who are not Catholic and also those who are not in a state of grace are asked not to receive communion. Well why is this? This is so because they cannot actually give an "amen" because they cannot state that they believe. When we fail to remain in a state of grace, and not return to Christ's mercy that is found in confession, we have put our relationship with Christ to death. When we allow ourselves to live a lifestyle that is opposed to the Gospel message we cannot state "amen" and thus "I believe" because through our actions and thoughts we really don't.
Saint Thomas gives us the perfect example of being able to say confidently "I believe." Christ came to the other disciples, but for some reason Thomas was absent from their midst. Upon returning to their midst he was unable to accept the news of Christ's Resurrection unless the objective of feeling His wounds was first met. Eventually Christ came not even allowing a locked door to stop him and thus He finally helped Thomas to confidently exclaim "I believe." We to probably find that we often walk down the path of Saint Thomas. We to have probably allowed sin to hurt our relationship with Christ and His Church. We probably at times have even locked the doors of our mind to the fullness of truth that only comes through Christ and His Church. When we give into the stain of sin and begin to believe that our own ability to reason is greater then the truth of Christ and His Church how can we truly be able to say "I believe?" Thomas' eyes were opened when he prevailed himself to Christ's mercy and so can ours!
May we to heal this relationship and discover the truth of the Gospel through Christ's abundant mercy. This relationship cannot be healed through our own merit nor can it be healed through some pattern of philosophical thought outside of Christ. If we desire to have our eyes opened and to be able to say confidently with Saint Thomas "amen" meaning "I believe" we must prevail ourselves towards Christ's abundant mercy now. If we glance at the bottom of the Divine Mercy image we will notice the words "Jesus I trust in you" which is equal to saying "amen" or "I believe." In this image we will discover the same wounds that Thomas felt. May we not deny the wounds of our Resurrected Lord because from those wounds our salvation was won upon the wood of the cross. Flowing from the heart of Christ is the blue ray of our baptism which has set us apart from sin and ushered us into the very life of the Church. The red ray brings us to Christ's blood that was poured out for us in which we do receive in Holy Communion.
May we truly thank God this day for all that he has done for us. May we continue to live up to the day of our own baptism by banishing ALL that keeps us separated from Christ from our midst. May we be sustained in our faith through the Holy Eucharist instead of having our faith diminished through our trust in sin and lies. May we come to trust as Thomas did in Christ because we to can turn ourselves towards Christ's abundant mercy. When we frequent the Sacrament of Confession that was instituted in our Gospel with Christ's words of "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" our sight can indeed be restored so that we can see Christ as He truly is. Returning to this Sacrament and thus trusting in all the Sacraments of the Church is at the heart of the Divine Mercy message. When we do this we are able to confidently say "Jesus I trust in you," "I believe," and most importantly "amen" before we receive our Lord in Holy Communion. May we truly join with Saint Thomas in exclaiming this and banish from our midst all that keeps us from trusting in Christ and His abundant mercy. May Saints John XXIII and John Paul II intercede on all of our behalf that we may continue to grow in our desire to be holy and to achieve the rewards of the Heavenly Kingdom.
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