Lesson 5: Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Bible Passage
John 20:19-31
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors
locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when
they saw the Lord.
21
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with
that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins
are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus
came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were,
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors
were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to
Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop
doubting and believe.”
28
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed.”
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this
book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name.
Prayer
PRAYER BASED ON TODAY'S GOSPEL
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
4/11/21 (Jn. 20:19-31)
Lord Jesus, we thank you the grace of your divine mercy and peace. In today's Gospel, you appeared as
the Risen Lord to the apostles and you said to them: "Peace be with you." Lord, with the power of your
Resurrection, you gave new life of peace, joy, and hope to the apostles. And after you forgave them for
their lack of faith, doubts and denials, there was peace in their hearts and a great desire to begin a new
life of sanctity and zeal to proclaim the Gospel. Lord, with your divine mercy and grace of conversion,
enable us to persevere in fidelity to you and to our Christian mission. Help us to overcome doubts,
unnecessary fears, anxieties, and especially sinfulness by holding on to your Easter grace of peace and
joyful love in our present time. Have mercy on us all. And please also bless our family and dear friends.
We glorify you in the love of the Blessed Mother. AMEN.
Videos
John 20 19 31
What is Hope?
"HOPE"
Most of the definitions this word are very closely connected. It just means the sense that what you want
or a need can be attained somehow. However if we're talking about hope is a virtue, this
means something a little more.
"Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our
happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of
the grace of the Holy Spirit."
Catechism of the Catholic Church; First half of paragraph 1817
The virtue of hope, therefore, is a couple of main things:
 The wish for the perfect kingdom and eternal life
 Trust in Jesus to remain faithful and honest and the promises He's made
However I'd like to spend a moment examining these factors just a little more closely.
The wish for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life


It's a desire
It means that what you really wanted a life isn't a sweet car or a big house or a beautiful life.
What you want is to have everything worth having and have it forever. Not that there's anything
wrong with wanting things on earth too. But when we're talking about the virtue of hope, the
desire for eternal rewards has to come first.
In a way, this element is simple common sense. I mean if somebody said to you, "Well I could give you a
pretty nice car for the next week or you could wait a week and then I'd let you have an even better car
for the rest of your life."
Well which one would you go for man it's perfectly legitimate to think of heaven like this.
Trust in Jesus' Faithfulness in the Promises He's Made
The second factor is Trust in Jesus's words.
Jesus said, "Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well."
(Matthew 6:33)
If you trust Jesus, you'll be much more strongly motivated to do what he commanded.
Like the desire for heaven, this one is pretty simple.
1. If Jesus is God then He's an infinitely honest.
2. If He's infinitely honest, He can't lie.
3. If he can't lie, His words are true.
So trust them, that's about all there is to it.