Author: SHSS

Divine Mercy Sunday: Healing Through Christ’s Wounds

The Sunday after Easter has been designated by St. John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday. In today’s Gospel, Thomas is healed by touching the wounds of Christ. Christ redeems us through his passion.

It is in facing our wounded nature—both as a community and as individuals—that we can find healing. Seeing our wounded nature can be painful. Healing that nature can be difficult, yet Christ is our hope and strength. Even the worst of sins can be forgiven and healed.

The Heart of Mercy

Mercy is a word that comes from Latin: misericordia. This word means to suffer pain in one’s heart for another. In asking God for mercy, we are asking God to have suffering in his heart for us.

Likewise, we are asked by God to have pain in our hearts for the pain of others. Mercy is active—it does what it can to relieve the suffering of others through prayer and actions (the corporal and spiritual works of mercy).

Mercy for the Broken

There are people who feel that their lives are so mixed up, or that they have sinned most grievously, that forgiveness or reconciliation for them is impossible. Today the readings remind us that this is not true. Mercy is available. Lives can change for the better.

We as individuals, and we as the Body of Christ, are always in need of mercy. No one is so perfect as not to need mercy—either from God or from each other.

A Call to Share Mercy

Today, on Divine Mercy Sunday, forgive someone with whom you are angry. Mercy is given to us to be shared among us. Think about what really is important.

Msgr. Guy A. Massie
April 12, 2026

The Cornerstone of Our Faith

Easter’s joyful message is the key and cornerstone of our faith. It is because of this great, glorious event that Christians of every denomination gather for worship on the first day of the week, Sunday, and not the seventh day, Saturday.

It is on Sunday that Christ rose. It is on this first day of the week that God created light from darkness. It is on the first day of the week, Sunday, that the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles at Pentecost. Sunday is our weekly Holy Day, and the Risen Christ is the reason for our existence. Jesus risen is the joy and hope of all who long for the good, seek truth, live love, and mercy.

Easter Reveals the Incarnation

Easter defines more clearly the great mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation means God becoming human in the person of Jesus. The Resurrection tells us clearly who Jesus is. He is God and man. Easter is a great reason for our hope.

In the Gospel, we see that Jesus addresses such topics as the truth; he speaks of compassion, peace, joy, mercy, judgment, redemption, and eternity. Jesus speaks about the fatherland of God, the supremacy of love (that is, willing the good for the other) over religious law. We see in the behavior of Jesus his deep and personal relationships with people. We also recognize that Jesus faces great opposition from many in the religious establishments of his time. In the Gospel, we are invited to live life now and in eternity. We learn through Jesus that with God there is no death, for God is life and life in the fullest.

Opposition and Faithfulness

The message of Jesus gave many hope, yet we see that Jesus was greatly opposed. He was opposed by many of the religious authorities of his time. Jesus was seen as a threat to the Romans who were occupying the land of Israel at the time of Jesus. Ultimately, Jesus is crushed. He dies a terrible death at the hands of the Romans; he is rejected by many of the religious authorities of his time.

Throughout his life and even his sufferings, Jesus remains faithful to his message, to his Father, and he does not give in to the temptations of hatred or retaliation. Jesus not only preached but practiced the message he preached. His faithfulness stands in sharp contrast to the unfaithfulness of Adam and Eve.

Story or parable that it may be, the Genesis story seeks to address the problems of evil and questions of sin. While humanity in the characters of Adam (everyman) and Eve (every woman) may have been unfaithful, Jesus is faithful to God. Thus, he redeems all humanity.

Victory of Love Over Darkness

Jesus is also the symbol of every person who seeks to do the good and live in harmony with God, as spoken of in the first psalm, and are persecuted for their efforts. Jesus represents all those who seek the good and whom the world does not understand. Jesus represents all those who seek peace, reconciliation, justice, kindness, compassion, and mercy, and who seem defeated, cast out, and who are marginalized in our society.

Easter is a victory celebration that love does win out over hatred, that truth ultimately is victorious over lies, that mercy and compassion make life worth living, that peace in the end wins out over war and personal distress, that giving and living for others gives true meaning, and in the end LIFE TRIUMPHS OVER DEATH. Even if the good is sometimes eclipsed by darkness and evil, even if we see the good sometimes defeated, the Resurrection of Christ tells us that the good will win out. For every cross we face and suffer will be a resurrection as sure as day follows night and spring follows winter.

IT IS THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS THAT GIVES US HOPE AND ENERGY TO LIVE A LIFE OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.

HAPPY EASTER!
Msgr. Guy A. Massie
April 5, 2026
Easter Readings

Holy Week is the most important week in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church. During Holy Week, we celebrate the great Redemption which Christ has achieved for us through his faithfulness to the Will of God. Every Catholic, every person who has a relationship with Christ, must take this week seriously and join in these great liturgies of the Church.

Remember, the liturgies invite each of us to not only be present to the great events but to sacramentally enter into the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. Please join us for these great Holy Week liturgies.

Palm Sunday: March 29

Procession beginning at 2nd Place and Court St at 10:00 AM, then to the Church for the 10:15 AM Mass

Holy Week with Palm Sunday—also known as Passion Sunday—begins because the Passion is proclaimed at all the Masses. Palms are a sign of victory. The walking with palms reminds us that we are celebrating the victory of Christ over sin and death.

Palms may be seen as an ancient “ticker tape”—a way to greet a hero. The palm as a sign of victory is illustrated in our parish church. If you look closely at the statue of Saints Lucy and Stephen, you will see they hold a palm, indicating that they were martyrs who were victorious in giving their lives for the faith.

If you look at the sign outside the church bearing the name of the church, you will see at the crest at the top of the sign palms of victory. We bring palms to the cemetery and place them on the graves of loved ones, professing our faith that Christ is risen. For us, life and not death has the final word.

The Proclamation of the Passion

The Proclamation of the Passion of the Lord is the highest of the liturgies of the Word. Many people complain that the reading is too long. It is only once a year that we have such readings. It is good to allow the Passion to wash over you while remembering the great suffering that brought about our salvation.

Msgr. Guy A. Massie
March 29, 2026