Joke: A Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: “What do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air at the end of the classroom. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out "I know, I know." "Good," said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus' first words." Extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA."

On the Second Sunday of Easter of the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass for Canonization of Saint Faustina Kowalska, Saint Pope John Paul II proclaimed to the world that “from now on throughout the Church” this Sunday will be called “Divine Mercy Sunday.” What makes Saint Faustina’s revelations striking is the way that they so powerfully express the central truths that lie at the heart of the Gospel: the merciful love of God, manifest especially in the Passion and Resurrection of His Son. This is also the heart of the Catholic Church that we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on this Second Sunday of Easter. This mercy of God extends exceedingly in the words of encouragement, the words of reassurance saying in today’s Gospel, “Peace be with you.” In sadness and faith seemed to vanish, the Lord Jesus resurrected brought his disciples back to reality by His true peace given to them.

In his book, “Fides et Ratio,” Saint Pope John Paul II compares faith and reason are like the two wings of a bird that the bird cannot rise to the truth when one of the wings is broken. It is perfectly fit for today’s Gospel when Thomas, one of Jesus’ chosen apostles, doubted the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The request of Thomas to see the mark of the nails, to put his fingers into the nail marks, and to put his hands on the side of Jesus to believe, is it reasonable to ask as Thomas did? His reason is a concrete one that unless he sees the marks on his hands, and his feet and touches his side where the sword pierces through to his heart, he will not believe that Jesus is risen. When we see, touch, hear, smell, or taste, our five senses, there is no need for belief. What we can experience with our senses, are facts, and no need for faith. The only thing that can satisfy our senses is the fact that reason can be proven. This is exactly why Thomas fails to believe in the risen Lord because he lacks faith. That is why Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Have we come to follow the Lord Jesus with our reason, and our understanding, and not with our faith? Saint Thomas says, “Mercy consists in bringing a thing out of nonbeing into being.” Can we use our reason to explain this mercy of God that brings us from dust into being? Or this reasoning must be merged with our faith in the risen Lord who is resurrected to give us hope that one day we will be with Him in his heavenly kingdom? Saint Pope JP II explains that when we pay too much attention to understanding and lack faith, we cannot rise to the truth. In other words, one of the wings of the bird is broken, and it cannot fly to the truth. It is the same thing that when we have faith and do not understand, we cannot rise to the truth either. The question is what can help us balance this faith and understanding?

Faith. Has Thomas had faith in the Lord when He chose him as one of his apostles? What gives Jesus’ disciples the courage to follow him when he is still with them? I’m convinced that the disciples followed Jesus because he performed miracle after miracle, even raising the dead to life, they all saw it, heard it, and believed in him. There was no need of faith in following the Lord Jesus when he was still with them. But how sad it is when Jesus is caught and nailed on the cross, faith seems to vanish. Because their faith vanished and dissolved in the air Jesus’ first words to his disciples from his resurrection, “Peace be with you.” The peace that increases their faith and balances with reason, and only then, they have the strength and courage to go out to be witnessed by the world. Just as the faith of Jesus’ disciples is strengthened with Christ’s peace, how is our faith when we have to face any difficulty or challenge? When we are truthful and good to our spouse that reason and understanding can prove, but if our spouse is still unfaithful to us, what is it that we lack in our relationship? Have we sought the peace of the risen Lord when we have to face any difficulty or challenge? Faith without reason or reason without faith, one cannot rise to the truth. We cannot profess our faith without understanding what we profess, and we cannot understand what we profess without faith. Faith and understanding are like the two wings of a bird that needs Christ’s peace to be balanced so to experience the risen Lord and the presence of God in your life, have you had Christ’s peace in your life? The decision is yours.