Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)
Audio version available for subscribers. Subscribe
Today's Readings
Acts 2:42-47; Ps 118; 1 Pet 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31
Read today's readings at USCCBReflection
Peter writes about an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. In the evening of life, that inheritance is closer than it has ever been. The earthly inheritances - the house, the savings, the possessions you have spent a lifetime accumulating - are perishable and fading. The one kept in heaven is not. Peter also writes that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold tested by fire, will prove to be for praise and glory. In the evening of life, the fire has been real. The testing has been long. And the gold that remains is the faith you held through every trial.
Thomas needed to see the wounds before he could believe. Jesus came back for him without judgment and offered exactly what Thomas needed. In the evening of life, you may carry your own version of Thomas's demand - a grief that has not resolved, a prayer that was never answered, a wound in the faith that has not healed. The Divine Mercy of today's feast says: the God who came back through a locked door for one doubting man will come back for you too.
The Rosary Today
The first Glorious Mystery is the Resurrection. Thomas encountered the Risen Christ not on Easter morning but a week later, behind a locked door. The Resurrection reaches people on its own schedule, not ours.
Prayer of the Faithful
- For those in the evening of life who have been tested by fire for decades and whose faith has proven more precious than gold, that the inheritance kept in heaven would sustain them through whatever testing remains, we pray to the Lord.
- For those who, like Thomas, carry unresolved wounds in their faith and need the Risen Christ to come back through the locked door one more time, we pray to the Lord.
- For the dying, that the Divine Mercy celebrated today would be the last word spoken over their lives and the first word that greets them on the other side, we pray to the Lord.
Something to Do
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet today at three o'clock. If you cannot get to a church, pray it wherever you are. And if there is an unresolved wound in your faith - a Thomas-sized doubt that has lingered for years - bring it to the Lord today. He came back for Thomas. He will come back for you.
Know someone who would benefit from Eventide & Altar?
Gift them a free 7-day trial.
Invite a Friend →You are not alone. Submit your intentions and they'll be carried to Holy Hour this Sunday.
Take to Holy Hour