Faith In What We Don't See

2nd Sunday of Easter

The second Sunday of Easter is also Divine Mercy Sunday. It is based on the Catholic devotion to Divine Mercy that Saint Faustina Kowalska reported as part of her encounter with Jesus. This feast celebrates the grace of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins through sacramental confession and communion.

This ties in with today’s readings, in which Jesus’ words to his apostles captures the essence of the Sacrament of Reconciliation: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:23).

But the Gospel is also about faith, and the homily by the visiting Australian Brother Priest, Friar Cormac Nagle, OFM spoke about having a good relationship with Jesus, which this is possible only through faith: “Blessed are those who do not see and believe”. We cannot physically see Jesus nor can we touch him, but we can believe that he is present in our lives.

One of the slides at Mass shared these apt words of Saint Augustine: “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe”. Indeed, when we believe in Jesus, we open our eyes and heart and start to spiritually see him in people, in events, in our visions and even in ourselves.