Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Today, the risen Lord appears to the disciples who had abandoned him and offers them his mercy, showing them his wounds. The words he addresses to them are punctuated by a greeting that appears three times in today's Gospel: "Peace be with you!" (Jn 20:19, 21, 26). Peace be with you! This is the greeting of the Risen One, who comes to meet all human weakness and error. Let us then follow Jesus' three "Peace be with you!"s: we will discover in them three actions of divine mercy within us. First, it brings joy; then it inspires forgiveness; and finally, it consoles in sorrow.

1. First, God's mercy brings joy, a special joy, the joy of feeling freely forgiven. When, on Easter evening, the disciples saw Jesus and heard him say to them for the first time, "Peace be with you!" they were filled with joy (cf. v. 20). They had shut themselves in the house out of fear; but they were also locked in within themselves, crushed by a sense of failure. They were disciples who had abandoned the Master: at the time of his arrest, they had fled. Peter had even denied him three times, and one of their group—one of them, indeed!—had been the traitor. There were many reasons to feel not only afraid, but like failures, like scoundrels. In the past, they had certainly made courageous choices; they had followed the Master with enthusiasm, commitment, and generosity, but in the end, everything had collapsed; Fear had prevailed, and they had committed the great sin: leaving Jesus alone at the most tragic moment. Before Easter, they thought they were destined for great things; they argued about who was the greatest among them, and so on. Now, they have hit rock bottom.

It is in this atmosphere that the first “Peace be with you!” occurs. The disciples should have felt ashamed, but instead, they rejoice. Who can understand them? Why? Because this face, this greeting, these words shift their attention from themselves to Jesus. Indeed, “the disciples were filled with joy,” the text specifies, “when they saw the Lord” (v. 20). They are turned away from themselves and their own failings and drawn to his gaze, where there is no severity, only mercy. Christ does not condemn them for the past, but he gives them his everlasting kindness. And this revives them, fills their hearts with lost peace, makes them new people, purified by a forgiveness given without calculation, a forgiveness given without merit.

This is the joy of Jesus, the joy we too have experienced in receiving his forgiveness. We have sometimes been like the disciples at Easter: after a fall, a sin, a failure. In those moments, it seems there is nothing left to do. But it is precisely then that the Lord does everything to give us his peace: through Confession, the words of someone who draws near, an inner consolation of the Spirit, an unexpected and surprising event… In various ways, God takes care to make us feel the embrace of his mercy, a joy that springs from receiving “forgiveness and peace.” Yes, the joy of God is a joy that springs from forgiveness and leaves peace. That is it: it springs from forgiveness and leaves peace; a joy that lifts us up without humiliating us, as if the Lord did not understand what is happening. Brothers and sisters, let us remember the forgiveness and peace we have received from Jesus. Each of us has received them; Each of us has experienced this. Let's remember it for a moment; it will do us good! Let's place the memory of God's embrace and caresses before that of our mistakes and falls. In this way, we will nurture joy. For those who experience God's joy, nothing can ever be the same again! This joy transforms us.

2. “Peace be with you!” The Lord says it a second time, adding: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (v. 21). And he gives the disciples the Holy Spirit to make them instruments of reconciliation: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven” (v. 23). Not only do they receive mercy, but they become dispensers of that same mercy they have received. They receive this power, but not because of their merits or their studies; no, it is a pure gift of grace, but one that rests on their experience of being forgiven. And I address you, missionaries of Mercy: if each of you does not feel forgiven, let him stop and not become a missionary of Mercy until he feels forgiven. And from this mercy received, you will be able to give so much mercy, to give so much forgiveness. And in the Church, today and always, forgiveness must reach us through the humble kindness of a merciful confessor, who knows he is not the holder of any power, but a channel of mercy, pouring out upon others the forgiveness he himself has first received. And from this comes the forgiveness of everything, because God forgives everything, everything, always. We are the ones who are tired of asking for forgiveness, but He always forgives. And you must be channels of this forgiveness, through your experience of being forgiven. We must not torture the faithful who come with sins, but understand what it is, listen and forgive, and offer good advice to help them move forward. God forgives everything: we must not close this door…

“Whose sins you forgive, their sins are forgiven.” These words are the origin of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but not only that. Jesus made the entire Church a community that dispenses mercy, a sign and an instrument of reconciliation for humanity. Brothers and sisters, each of us has received, in Baptism, the Holy Spirit to be men and women of reconciliation. When we experience the joy of being freed from the weight of our sins, our failures; when we personally know what it means to be reborn after an experience that seemed hopeless, then we must share the bread of mercy with those around us. Let us feel called to this. And let us ask ourselves: I, here where I live, I, in my family, I, at work, in my community, do I promote communion, am I a weaver of reconciliation? Do I commit to defusing conflicts, bringing forgiveness where there is hatred, peace where there is resentment? Or do I fall into the world of idle talk, which always kills? Jesus seeks, within us, witnesses before the world of these words: Peace be with you! I have received peace: I give it to others.

3. The Lord repeats “Peace be with you!” for the third time when he reappears to the disciples eight days later to confirm Thomas’s wavering faith. Thomas wants to see and touch. And the Lord is not scandalized by his unbelief, but comes to meet him: “Put your finger here, and see my hands” (v. 27). These are not words of defiance, but of mercy. Jesus understands Thomas’s difficulty: he does not treat him harshly, and the apostle is deeply moved by such kindness. And so, from unbeliever, he becomes a believer, and he makes the simplest and most beautiful confession of faith: “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28). It is a beautiful invocation; we can make it our own and repeat it throughout the day, especially when we experience doubt and darkness, like Thomas.

Because in Thomas lies the story of every believer, of each one of us, of every believer: there are difficult times when life seems to contradict our faith, when we are in crisis and need to touch and see. But, like Thomas, it is precisely here that we rediscover the heart of the Lord, his mercy. In these situations, Jesus does not come to us triumphantly with overwhelming proofs, he does not perform dazzling miracles, but he offers warm signs of mercy. He consoles us in the same way as today's Gospel: by offering us his wounds. Let us not forget this: in the face of sin, even the worst sin, our own or that of others, there is always the presence of the Lord who offers his wounds. Do not forget this. And in our ministry as confessors, we must show people that before their sins stand the wounds of the Lord, which are more powerful than sin.

And it also reveals to us the wounds of our brothers and sisters. Yes, God's mercy, in our crises and sorrows, often brings us into contact with the suffering of our neighbor. We thought we were at the peak of suffering, at the height of a difficult situation, and here we discover, while remaining silent, that there is someone going through worse times, even worse periods. And if we tend to the wounds of our neighbor and pour out mercy upon them, a new hope, which consoles in sorrow, is reborn within us. Let us then ask ourselves if, in these last days, we have touched the wounds of someone suffering in body or spirit; if we have brought peace to a wounded body or a broken spirit; if we have taken a little time to listen, to accompany, to console. When we do this, we encounter Jesus who, with the eyes of one who is tested by life, looks at us with mercy and says: Peace be with you! And I like to think about the presence of the Virgin among the Apostles, there, and how after Pentecost we thought of her as Mother of the Church: I really like to think of her on Monday, after Divine Mercy Sunday, as Mother of Mercy: may she help us to advance in our beautiful ministry.

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MASS OF DIVINE MERCY

Saint Peter's Basilica

Second Sunday of Easter, April 24, 2022

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