2nd Sunday of Easter
Divine Mercy Sunday
April 12, 2015
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
4 PM & 12 Noon Liturgies
In Lerner and Lowe’s delightful musical, My Fair Lady, there is
a song sung by a frustrated Eliza Doolittle, called “Show me!” She is
singing to Freddie Eynsford Hill about her frustration with both
himself and Professor Higgins. The point is that both of them in
professing their love for her are just all talk! So she sings: “Sing
me no song; read me no rhyme; don’t waste my time, show me!” (I
know I’m no Julie Andrews; I’m not even Audrey Hepburn, both of
whom did sing it, or mimed it.)
Why bring up a song now? Because I can imagine St. Thomas
singing a rousing and equally frustrated verse or two to his good
friends in the Upper Room. Or maybe Thomas is just frustrated
and angry with himself. He missed Jesus the first time. Now he
wants to be shown concretely that He is actually still alive. Show
me, he says! And as we know from the story, Jesus does.
But history has been hard on Thomas. He is invariably
known as the “Doubting Thomas.” It must have been hard for
Thomas to have to keep hearing that phrase. Thomas the doubter!
You may know that one stream of tradition says that Thomas
moved rather soon to India as a missionary. In his latest book,
Jesus: A Pilgrimage, Fr. Jim Martin, S.J. suggests that Thomas may
have moved just to get away from everyone calling him “Doubting
Thomas.”
Others blame the whole incident on St. John who is the only
evangelist who records this meeting between Thomas and Jesus.
According to this tradition, Thomas and John were rivals as
apostles; they each had their own following offering slightly
different versions of gospel events. One, Thomas, offers a more
gnostic view, emphasizing the inner life and special interior gifts
Jesus and the Holy Spirit offer. The other, John, was much more
clear-headed but emphasized the Divine nature of Jesus in the real
world. So, the conclusion is that John deliberately makes Thomas
look bad in this scene. Who knows?
What is clear, however, is that Jesus gets across his almost
constant position about the essential nature of forgiveness. And, as
usual, he uses very few words. Jesus does just “Show them!” One
might think Jesus would be at least a little miffed at Thomas for
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insisting on a tactile “proof.” Remember Jesus called Simon Peter
Satan once for missing the message. But no, that’s not Jesus.
Without an angry or guilt-inducing moment, Jesus just patiently
shows himself to Thomas. Here, touch me! I wonder if in that
moment all the other disciples realized that they, too, needed
forgiveness. They had all deserted Jesus. Peter even denied him
explicitly. Jesus could have just thought, why don’t I get another
batch of followers and try to start again. You couldn’t blame him,
could you? But, no, that’s not Jesus either.
He quietly breathes on them and says in so few words: do for
each other what I have done for you. Forgive each other seventytimes-seven times, and your sins will always be forgiven as well.
Whatever you forgive in each other will be forgiven in the
Kingdom. Powerful stuff!
This is why today is called Mercy Sunday. Pope Saint John
Paul II may have started this commemoration, but his successor
Francis is perfecting it. It is all about forgiveness and sin and
mercy. It is all about who the living God is, was, and always will be.
In fact in Pope Francis’ address earlier today in Rome he
announced officially the opening of the “Year of Mercy,” the
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Jubilee year to begin on December 8, 2015, the feast of the
Immaculate Conception and the fiftieth anniversary of the opening
of the Second Vatican Council.
In that address, the Pope says clearly that Mercy is not just
some pastoral attitude to take; “Mercy is the very foundation of the
Church’s life.”
It is mercy and forgiveness that pave the way for the
community of believers in today’s first reading. The Acts of the
Apostles tells us that those men and women were “of one mind and
heart;” they held everything in common; and thereby “with great
power” bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord, and great
favor was accorded them all. They loved much precisely because
they forgave much in each other!
My brother and sisters, that description is also who we are
called to be. And it can only be accomplished if we perfect our
ability to forgive each other. “Imitate God’s mercy and
forgiveness,” is today’s take-home lesson. That is what all the postresurrection appearances are about.
Be at peace, Jesus says repeatedly. Share with one another—
whether that sharing is just a piece of barbequed fish and some
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bread, or sharing the deepest loves and aspirations of your hearts
with each other. Share and forgive each other. That is what
realizes God’s Kingdom.
Poor Thomas does get a bad wrap it seems to me. Who
among us would not doubt? Who among us has not doubted?
Doubt is never really the enemy. Apathy and indifference and sloth
might be. The great Basque philosopher Miguel Unamuno once
said: “Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.”
Thomas could become a patron saint for many of us in today’s
world.
Remember another patron of ours, St. Ignatius: “Love
expresses itself more in deeds than in words.” Maybe we could all
sing to each other more often as Julie Andrews sang to Freddie and
Professor Higgins. “Sing me no song; read me no rhyme; don’t
waste my time; show me!” The invitation is ours. Peace!
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