We come together today like the first believers, praying for unity of heart and soul. With our fellow Christians, we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the Lord of Life!

In the First Reading, we hear how belief in the resurrection bears fruit in the lives of the disciples: it brings them together as a community, united in faith and love in action. The witness of the apostles is the cornerstone of growth in the early church.

In the Second Reading, however, John needs to remind an early Christian community to value the incarnational nature of Christ, and the importance of a deepening, living faith. This has practical consequences in terms of love of God, and of our fellow human beings. It sometimes makes challenging demands on us.

The Psalm is a song of thanksgiving, and forms a grateful prayer that sits easily on the lips of the risen Lord.

The Gospel recounts Jesus’s appearance to the disciples, who are overjoyed at his presence. They receive through him the gift of
the Holy Spirit and are given their mission. A week later, the Lord appears again to the previously absent Thomas, eliciting his magnificent confession: ‘My Lord and my God’!

Today, on Divine Mercy Sunday, I pray to the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, that I may daily surrender to God’s mercy.