Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

The early Church devoted themselves to four things: the teaching of the apostles, the communal life, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. That single sentence in Acts is the blueprint for the domestic church. Your family already has the infrastructure for all four - you have a table where bread is broken, a home where communal life happens whether you planned it or not, access to the teaching through Scripture and the parish, and the capacity to pray together even if the prayer is brief and the kids are distracted. The early Christians did not do these things in a cathedral. They did them in their homes, and every day the Lord added to their number.

Thomas refused to believe unless he could see the wounds and put his hand into Christ's side. Jesus did not scold him for the demand. He came back a week later and said: put your finger here. See my hands. The mercy of God does not dismiss the doubter. It returns, walks through the locked door, and offers the wounds as evidence. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and the mercy on display is not abstract. It is a God who comes back for the one who was not in the room the first time.

• For our family, that the four devotions of the early Church - teaching, community, breaking of bread, and prayer - would be the daily rhythm of our home, we pray to the Lord.
• For the Thomas in our family, the one who is struggling to believe or who was not in the room when the encounter happened, that Jesus would come back for them the way he came back for Thomas, we pray to the Lord.
• For all who approach the sacrament of Reconciliation today, that the Divine Mercy of God would meet them with the same gentleness Jesus showed Thomas: not a rebuke, but an invitation to touch the wounds, we pray to the Lord.
• For families who have lost someone this year, that the living hope Peter describes - an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading - would sustain them through the grief, we pray to the Lord.

If you have not yet prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet as a family, pray it today at 3:00 PM - the hour of mercy. Use the rosary beads your family already has. The prayer is simple and repetitive enough for even young children to join: for the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. If Confession is available at your parish today, go as a family. Thomas touched the wounds. You can too.

If one of your children is going through a season of doubt, do not panic. Jesus did not abandon Thomas for his unbelief. He came back, walked through the locked door, and met him exactly where he was. Your job is to keep the door open and trust that Jesus will come back for the one who was not in the room.