It is 19th April 2020. We celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. The readings are from Acts 2:42-47; the second reading is from 1 Peter 1:3-9; and the Gospel from John 20:19-31. We read in the Diary, 514 of St. Faustina, “The Mercy of the Heart of Jesus shines forth with great radiance. This was the image of Divine Mercy seen by Saint Faustina. The open Heart of our Lord burst forth with an outpouring of light and grace on the world. Jesus wants to continue to shine forth on the world, and He wants to rest in your heart so that He may shine on others through you”. Mercy is manifested tangible love of God to all of us even though we do not deserve such profound love. Mercy is nothing but love showing by self-gift. “Who is a God like you, pardoning sins and passing over the wrongdoing of the remnant of your possession? God does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing mercy. (Micah 7:18). The quality of God is showing in God’s love and forgiveness. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps.103:8). God’s mercy is celebrated in all who have overcome the fear. When we are gripped by fear and anxiety, we find difficult to experience of mercy. We wonder during this pandemic, what does the feast of Divine Mercy mean to all of us? Does God care and feel our fear, sadness and loss? Is God grieving with us when so many are dying of this coronavirus? Even though it seems hard to assimilate the abundant love of God shown in His mercy and peace. “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Pet.1:3). The Easter strengthens our belief in the Risen Lord because He brought us closer to God by allowing us to experience God’s mercy in His passion, death and resurrection. The first reading offers a model for Christian living by community that prays, worships, cares, shares, accepts and loves. The responsorial Psalm praises, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.: (Ps.118:1). The second reading strengthens our faith in the Risen Lord even though we do not see Him around physically, yet we see Him in the sick, the dying, the poor and the vulnerable and broken. “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Pet.1:3). The Gospel presents us with the appearance of the Risen Lord to the disciples and to St. Thomas. Life is one-time chance to do good things. If we have not done good things to the others here on earth, it is impossible to intercede for the others in Heaven. The training to be good is held here while we live on earth; and we must not let go of the opportunities to show mercy. We all admire, believe and pray to Divine Mercy at 03.00. Most frequently we feel bad that we could not sincere with our prayers to the Divine Mercy but we never felt wounded, broken and felt sad when our neighbor is going through a challenging time. We have a tendency to look down on those who are poor and the sick. Unless we share, and care for the other, we cannot experience the mercy of God in our life. St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. the goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2447 reads: The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, a forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: itis also a work of justice pleasing to God. We are to show mercy to our enemies too and to be tolerant to all people and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 6:14-15). All our goodness and evil, emotions and motions, characters and acters, personalities and persons are right within each one of us. Even though we are self-isolated, socially distanced, and in shutdown, the Risen Lord enters into our homes, hearts and homelands to offer gift of faith to accept His mercy that flows through our charitable action to the humanity around. Let us put on the work clothes and remove the clothes of beauty. May you have a good day. God bless you.