In 1931, a young Polish nun named Faustina Kowalska saw Jesus appear with rays of mercy emanating from His heart. He asked that an image of His Divine Mercy be venerated on the Sunday after Easter Sunday, which had long been associated with the final day of the Octave of Easter. On April 28, 1935, almost exactly ninety years ago, Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated for the first time with a completed painting of her vision of the merciful Lord. In 2000, Saint John Paul II decreed that this feast be made official worldwide. On this Divine Mercy Sunday our readings challenge us to recognize the risen Lord’s presence. In Acts, people from all around Jerusalem recognize the Lord’s healing powers working through Peter, the disciple he left as head of the early church. John, the author of Revelation, recognizes the Lord in his visions. Thomas only recognizes the risen Lord when he sees Him in the flesh but then believes at once. Let us marvel at the strong faith of these early Christians. My question is, what if all the apostles had been in the locked room and seen the risen Lord on that first evening? Without the one who had missed the opportunity and who doubted what he did not experience himself, we would not have had the practical effect of hearing Jesus “prove” His bodily existence after His death. We also would not have been directly blessed by the Lord as ones who have believed without having seen. Unlike Thomas, we do not have the opportunity to see Jesus in the flesh at all. However, we do have opportunities to see His presence again and again: in each other, in the Eucharist, in those in need, or when we receive the gift of divine mercy. It is significant that Jesus returned with His wounds intact. Not only hadn’t they healed, but they were also just as visible and palpable as on the day He was taken from the cross. Even after He had been raised from the dead, brought to heaven, and returned to appear to the disciples in His resurrected body, He retained the wounds inflicted upon Him on the day He was crucified. The Body of Christ, which we receive in the Eucharist, which is made manifest in the Church, is also physically wounded, remains physically wounded. These very real wounds continue to be present today in our sinfulness, in our suffering, and in those in need. How necessary is the gift of divine mercy we receive from one who remains wounded Himself! Question of the Week: Where and when do I recognize Christ’s wounds in the body of Christ? What can I do to heal those wounds?