Jesus, I trust in You.” On this Second Sunday of Easter— Divine Mercy Sunday—the Church places before us the heart of the Gospel: the mercy of God made flesh in the Risen Christ. It is no coincidence that this year, we mark this celebration with heavy hearts as we mourn the passing of Pope Francis, a shepherd whose entire papacy was marked by his tireless proclamation of God’s mercy.
The Gospel draws us into the Upper Room where the disciples, paralysed by fear and failure, are met not with judgement but with peace. Jesus appears in their midst, bearing the wounds of His Passion. He does not hide them. He does not scold them. Instead, He breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, empowering them to forgive. His wounds become the wellsprings of mercy.
This encounter echoes a central theme that Pope Francis preached throughout his ministry: “The name of God is Mercy.” In his 2016 book of the same title, he wrote, “God’s mercy is not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality with which He reveals His love as of that of a father or a mother, moved to the very depths out of love for their child.”
Today’s Gospel also brings us face to face with Thomas, the doubting disciple. His doubt mirrors our own hesitations in the face of suffering, scandal, or sin. But Jesus does not turn him away. Instead, He returns and invites Thomas to touch His wounds. “Do not doubt but believe.” This is mercy in action—meeting us where we are, not where we ought to be.
Pope Francis often reminded us that the Church must be “a field hospital after battle,” a place not for the perfect, but for the wounded. In his apostolic letter Misericordia et Misera, he wrote: “Mercy is the concrete action of the love that, by forgiving, transforms and changes our lives.” This vision has reshaped how many experience the Church today—not as a fortress, but as a home of healing.
Even in death, Pope Francis offered us a final witness of mercy. He passed away on the Easter Monday, having celebrated the Paschal Mystery one last time, leaving us with words of peace, fraternity, and communion. Just as Jesus breathed peace upon His frightened disciples, Pope Francis spent his life breathing hope into a fractured world.
Today, the Risen Christ appears again in the midst of His Church—wounded, yes, but alive. He invites us to believe, not in spite of our wounds, but through them. He calls us, like Francis did, to be bearers of mercy in a world desperate for compassion.
Let us pray, then, with hearts open to grace:
Jesus, I trust in You.
May this be not only our prayer today but our mission every day, inspired by the Gospel and by the memory of a Pope who truly lived it.
Father Josekutty Mathew CMF
