Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

The description of the early Church in Acts reads like the mission statement for the community you have been looking for: they devoted themselves to the teaching, to communal life, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. They shared everything. They met daily. They ate together with joy and sincerity of heart. And every day the Lord added to their number. In your twenties, the hunger for that kind of community is real, and the difficulty of finding it in an actual parish is one of the main reasons young adults leave the Church. What Acts describes is not a program. It is a way of life, and it started in homes, not institutions.

Thomas refused to believe on secondhand testimony and Jesus honored the refusal by coming back with evidence. In your twenties, you may have inherited a faith that was handed to you as a set of propositions rather than an encounter. Thomas says that is not enough. He needed to see for himself, to touch for himself, and Jesus respected that need completely. If your faith is going to survive your twenties, it needs to move from inherited belief to personal encounter. Today is a good day to ask for that encounter directly.

If you have never been to Confession as an adult making your own choice - not because your parents brought you but because you chose to go - today is the day. Divine Mercy Sunday exists to say that the door is open no matter what you are carrying. Walk through it the way Thomas walked into the upper room: with your doubt, your need, and your willingness to be surprised.

Lord, I want the encounter Thomas had - not secondhand faith, not inherited belief, but the real thing. Come through my locked door today. Show me your wounds. I am willing to say my Lord and my God if you are willing to show up. Have mercy on me. Alleluia. Amen.