Second Sunday of the Resurrection
|
|
Second Sunday of the Resurrection-New Sunday
Gospel John 20: 26-31
26Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
28* q Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29* Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?r Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book.
31But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
Reflection 1
New Sunday – Divine Mercy Sunday
On the first Sunday after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His eleven disciples in His risen body, bearing the wounds of His hands, feet, and side. From His side flowed blood and water when He was pierced on the cross. The water symbolises baptism, through which we are reborn as children of God and become brothers and sisters in Christ. The blood represents the sacrifice of the Mass, through which He redeems us, reconciles us with God and with one another, and washes away our sins.
This Sunday is known as “New Sunday” in the Maronite Church because it marks the beginning of a new era following the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time of renewal, where God’s love and mercy are fully revealed in Christ.
New Sunday also marks a new way of encountering the Lord. He is no longer known only through physical presence, as during His earthly life, nor only through visible glory, as in His appearance to Thomas. From now on, He is encountered in Spirit—through faith and in the Mysteries of the Church, the sacraments.
Also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, this day proclaims God’s infinite love and mercy, revealed in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
Seeing Beyond the Visible
On New Sunday, the Church invites us to stand with Thomas—not to judge him, but to learn from him. Thomas is often remembered for his doubt, but his story goes deeper than that. He wanted a real, personal encounter with the Lord; he needed to see, to touch and to know for himself that Jesus was truly risen.
The Risen Lord met him in his uncertainty and led him to one of the most powerful confessions in the Gospel: “My Lord and my God.”
This Sunday is not only about Thomas—it is also about us. Like him, we carry questions and moments of uncertainty and we need proof. The risen Lord continues to come to us through the Church, in the Eucharist and in our everyday lives, offering His peace and drawing us closer to Him.
New Sunday reminds us that we are blessed when we believe without seeing, and that faith is often a journey from doubt into encounter.
Do We Need Signs to Believe?
In the story of Thomas, we see a very human struggle: the need for a sign. Today, Jesus invites us into a deeper kind of faith: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This points us beyond what is visible into a faith that is rooted in trust and relationship.
In Thomas’ encounter, what changed him is not only what he saw or touched, but the personal meeting with the risen Lord, which led him to true belief.
We live in a world that looks for proof before believing, and Thomas reflects this. Yet Christ invites us beyond proof to trust in His presence.
This appearance to the disciples is like the Mass of Christ, because He is present in it through His word, through the signs of His saving sacrifice in His hands and side, through His gift of peace to the community of the disciples, and through the gift of faith given to Thomas: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.” As soon as Thomas saw the marks of the crucifixion in Jesus’ body, he believed in His divinity and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). In this event, the Lord Jesus made Sunday Mass a source of peace and faith for the community that shares in it: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). By Cardinal Béchara Bourtos Raï-Translated to English
Divine Mercy Sunday
Pope John Paul II had a deep devotion to proclaiming God’s mercy to the world. In the year 2000, during the canonisation of Faustina Kowalska, he declared that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. This was not to honour St Faustina herself, but to emphasise the meaning of the Resurrection and the depth of God’s mercy and love offered to all.
The feast was inspired by a request of Jesus revealed to St Faustina. He said: “I want the first Sunday after Easter to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 299). He also described it as a day of great grace—a refuge for all souls, especially sinners—where those who receive Confession and Holy Communion are offered complete forgiveness, as the floodgates of divine mercy are opened (Diary 699).
Reflection 2
New Sunday
In the Maronite Church, New Sunday marks the beginning of a new era after Christ’s Resurrection—a time of renewal, mercy and life as children of God. Jesus, the Paschal Lamb, returns to His disciples in a glorified body, bearing the wounds of His saving sacrifice. His appearance reveals a new way of encountering Him—not through physical presence, but through faith, the Holy Spirit and the sacraments.
Also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, this day reveals God’s infinite love and mercy, fully shown in Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection. New Sunday calls us to live out this new life and share His mercy with the world.
Be a living sign of His love and mercy
Not every Christian can truly come to know Jesus—unless they bear witness to Him in the world, through love and service to their brothers and sisters.
Faith is not simply an idea we hold; it is a living relationship, a deep encounter with Christ in the sacred moments of our everyday lives. He reveals Himself to us, just as He promised, in many ways:
Faith is the path to eternal life and it leads us to Him. As Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even though he die, shall live” (John 11:25).
“My Lord and my God.”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
Thought for the week
Christ is alive—may we recognise Him in the wounds of others and reflect His mercy in the way we live.
The Glory of God
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. We pray that we may run the race before us with our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish: Jesus who endured the shameful cross and was raised to a glorious new life in which we share. With the eyes of faith, may we always see the resplendent glory of God in the person of Jesus. Amen. Gwen Simon
Reflection 3
The New Sunday
This Sunday is known as "New Sunday" in the Maronite Church because it marks the beginning of a new era in humanity's history following the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. It signifies a time of sonship to God and it is a new era of redemption and reconciliation. This era is characterised by love and mercy represented in the person of Christ.
The New Sunday puts an end to the old way of encountering the Lord. He is no longer revealed in the flesh (as the disciples experienced him during his life); nor in glory (as Thomas did). From now on, He is revealed in Spirit, through the experience of faith and in the Mysteries (sacraments).
This Sunday is also referred to as Divine Mercy Sunday. The feast serves as a reminder of God's revelation of His essence as love, as depicted in Sacred Scripture and most profoundly witnessed in the life, Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, since the start of creation.
Faith beyond sight
In this passage, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Thomas, who initially doubted the reports of Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas insisted on physical proof, wanting to see the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and touch His side before believing. Jesus responds by saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Faith beyond sight is a cornerstone of Christian spirituality, calling us to trust in God's presence and providence even when we cannot perceive it with our physical senses.
It challenges us to transcend the limitations of our human understanding and rely on the deeper truths revealed to us through faith.
Living out faith beyond sight requires us to cultivate a spiritual awareness that goes beyond what we can see, hear, or touch. It involves recognising the presence of God in the ordinary moments of life, trusting His guidance even when the path ahead seems unclear.
By nurturing faith beyond sight in our lives, we learn to see the world through the eyes of faith.
It is a journey of surrender and trust, allowing God to lead us wherever He may call, even when we cannot see the way ahead.
“My Lord and my God.”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
A thought for the week
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. Gwen Simon
Divine Mercy Sunday
Pope Saint John Paul II was very passionate about the mission of revealing the mercy of Jesus to the world. In the year 2000, at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina, he announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would now be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. It must be made clear that this was not done in order to establish a way of honouring St. Faustina, but to emphasise the meaning of the Resurrection and the depths of God’s great mercy and love that is made available to all of His creation.
The institution of the feast was inspired by a desire of Jesus which was conveyed by Sister Faustina. The Lord Jesus told her: “I want the first Sunday after Easter to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 299). “I want the Feast of Mercy to be a refuge and sanctuary for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the depths of my mercy are open; I pour out a whole sea of graces on souls that approach the fount of my mercy. Any soul that makes its Confession and receives Holy Communion will have its sins and its punishment completely remitted. On that day are open all the Divine floodgates through which graces flow” (Diary 699).
Reflection 4
“My Lord and My God!”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
In the story of Thomas, John explains that the Risen Lord lives a life that escapes our senses, a life that we cannot touch or see. It can only be the object of faith.
The tradition tells us that Saint Thomas died a martyr for his faith. He also became a messenger of Mercy to India, a missionary who shed his own blood for the Master whom he encountered on that day.
Refection by Pope Francis
He gave Thomas a week. Jesus reveals himself with His wounds: His whole body was clean, beautiful and full of light but the wounds were and are still there, and when the Lord comes at the end of the world, we will see His wounds. Before he could believe, Thomas wanted to place his fingers in the wounds. He was stubborn. But that was what the Lord wanted – a stubborn person to make us understand something greater. Thomas saw the Lord and was invited to put his finger into the wounds and He did not merely say, ‘It is true: the Lord is risen’, he went further. He said: ‘God’. He was the first of the disciples to confess the divinity of Christ after the Resurrection. And he worshipped Him.
To touch the living God, we do need to enter into the wounds of Jesus and to do so, all we need to do is go out onto the street to the wounded, the hungry, the naked, the thirsty and the enslaved. Let us ask of St. Thomas the grace to grant us the courage to enter into the wounds of Jesus with tenderness and thereby we will certainly have the grace to worship the living God.
The Glory of God
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. We pray that we may run the race before us with our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish: Jesus who endured the shameful cross and was raised to a glorious new life in which we share. With the eyes of faith, may we always see the resplendent glory of God in the person of Jesus. Amen. Gwen Simon
Gospel John 20: 26-31
26Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
28* q Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29* Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?r Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book.
31But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
Reflection 1
New Sunday – Divine Mercy Sunday
On the first Sunday after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His eleven disciples in His risen body, bearing the wounds of His hands, feet, and side. From His side flowed blood and water when He was pierced on the cross. The water symbolises baptism, through which we are reborn as children of God and become brothers and sisters in Christ. The blood represents the sacrifice of the Mass, through which He redeems us, reconciles us with God and with one another, and washes away our sins.
This Sunday is known as “New Sunday” in the Maronite Church because it marks the beginning of a new era following the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time of renewal, where God’s love and mercy are fully revealed in Christ.
New Sunday also marks a new way of encountering the Lord. He is no longer known only through physical presence, as during His earthly life, nor only through visible glory, as in His appearance to Thomas. From now on, He is encountered in Spirit—through faith and in the Mysteries of the Church, the sacraments.
Also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, this day proclaims God’s infinite love and mercy, revealed in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
Seeing Beyond the Visible
On New Sunday, the Church invites us to stand with Thomas—not to judge him, but to learn from him. Thomas is often remembered for his doubt, but his story goes deeper than that. He wanted a real, personal encounter with the Lord; he needed to see, to touch and to know for himself that Jesus was truly risen.
The Risen Lord met him in his uncertainty and led him to one of the most powerful confessions in the Gospel: “My Lord and my God.”
This Sunday is not only about Thomas—it is also about us. Like him, we carry questions and moments of uncertainty and we need proof. The risen Lord continues to come to us through the Church, in the Eucharist and in our everyday lives, offering His peace and drawing us closer to Him.
New Sunday reminds us that we are blessed when we believe without seeing, and that faith is often a journey from doubt into encounter.
Do We Need Signs to Believe?
In the story of Thomas, we see a very human struggle: the need for a sign. Today, Jesus invites us into a deeper kind of faith: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This points us beyond what is visible into a faith that is rooted in trust and relationship.
In Thomas’ encounter, what changed him is not only what he saw or touched, but the personal meeting with the risen Lord, which led him to true belief.
We live in a world that looks for proof before believing, and Thomas reflects this. Yet Christ invites us beyond proof to trust in His presence.
This appearance to the disciples is like the Mass of Christ, because He is present in it through His word, through the signs of His saving sacrifice in His hands and side, through His gift of peace to the community of the disciples, and through the gift of faith given to Thomas: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.” As soon as Thomas saw the marks of the crucifixion in Jesus’ body, he believed in His divinity and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). In this event, the Lord Jesus made Sunday Mass a source of peace and faith for the community that shares in it: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). By Cardinal Béchara Bourtos Raï-Translated to English
Divine Mercy Sunday
Pope John Paul II had a deep devotion to proclaiming God’s mercy to the world. In the year 2000, during the canonisation of Faustina Kowalska, he declared that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. This was not to honour St Faustina herself, but to emphasise the meaning of the Resurrection and the depth of God’s mercy and love offered to all.
The feast was inspired by a request of Jesus revealed to St Faustina. He said: “I want the first Sunday after Easter to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 299). He also described it as a day of great grace—a refuge for all souls, especially sinners—where those who receive Confession and Holy Communion are offered complete forgiveness, as the floodgates of divine mercy are opened (Diary 699).
Reflection 2
New Sunday
In the Maronite Church, New Sunday marks the beginning of a new era after Christ’s Resurrection—a time of renewal, mercy and life as children of God. Jesus, the Paschal Lamb, returns to His disciples in a glorified body, bearing the wounds of His saving sacrifice. His appearance reveals a new way of encountering Him—not through physical presence, but through faith, the Holy Spirit and the sacraments.
Also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, this day reveals God’s infinite love and mercy, fully shown in Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection. New Sunday calls us to live out this new life and share His mercy with the world.
Be a living sign of His love and mercy
Not every Christian can truly come to know Jesus—unless they bear witness to Him in the world, through love and service to their brothers and sisters.
Faith is not simply an idea we hold; it is a living relationship, a deep encounter with Christ in the sacred moments of our everyday lives. He reveals Himself to us, just as He promised, in many ways:
- In the events of our lives, where His presence shines through acts of love and mercy.
- In the quiet of our hearts, where His Spirit dwells.
- In the journey of the world, where He walks with us even when we do not recognise Him.
- In His Church and its priests, where His word and sacraments are made present.
- In the poor, the weak and the suffering, where His wounded love is hidden in human need.
Faith is the path to eternal life and it leads us to Him. As Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even though he die, shall live” (John 11:25).
“My Lord and my God.”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
Thought for the week
Christ is alive—may we recognise Him in the wounds of others and reflect His mercy in the way we live.
The Glory of God
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. We pray that we may run the race before us with our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish: Jesus who endured the shameful cross and was raised to a glorious new life in which we share. With the eyes of faith, may we always see the resplendent glory of God in the person of Jesus. Amen. Gwen Simon
Reflection 3
The New Sunday
This Sunday is known as "New Sunday" in the Maronite Church because it marks the beginning of a new era in humanity's history following the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. It signifies a time of sonship to God and it is a new era of redemption and reconciliation. This era is characterised by love and mercy represented in the person of Christ.
The New Sunday puts an end to the old way of encountering the Lord. He is no longer revealed in the flesh (as the disciples experienced him during his life); nor in glory (as Thomas did). From now on, He is revealed in Spirit, through the experience of faith and in the Mysteries (sacraments).
This Sunday is also referred to as Divine Mercy Sunday. The feast serves as a reminder of God's revelation of His essence as love, as depicted in Sacred Scripture and most profoundly witnessed in the life, Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, since the start of creation.
Faith beyond sight
In this passage, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Thomas, who initially doubted the reports of Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas insisted on physical proof, wanting to see the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and touch His side before believing. Jesus responds by saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Faith beyond sight is a cornerstone of Christian spirituality, calling us to trust in God's presence and providence even when we cannot perceive it with our physical senses.
It challenges us to transcend the limitations of our human understanding and rely on the deeper truths revealed to us through faith.
Living out faith beyond sight requires us to cultivate a spiritual awareness that goes beyond what we can see, hear, or touch. It involves recognising the presence of God in the ordinary moments of life, trusting His guidance even when the path ahead seems unclear.
By nurturing faith beyond sight in our lives, we learn to see the world through the eyes of faith.
It is a journey of surrender and trust, allowing God to lead us wherever He may call, even when we cannot see the way ahead.
“My Lord and my God.”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
A thought for the week
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. Gwen Simon
Divine Mercy Sunday
Pope Saint John Paul II was very passionate about the mission of revealing the mercy of Jesus to the world. In the year 2000, at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina, he announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would now be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. It must be made clear that this was not done in order to establish a way of honouring St. Faustina, but to emphasise the meaning of the Resurrection and the depths of God’s great mercy and love that is made available to all of His creation.
The institution of the feast was inspired by a desire of Jesus which was conveyed by Sister Faustina. The Lord Jesus told her: “I want the first Sunday after Easter to be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 299). “I want the Feast of Mercy to be a refuge and sanctuary for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the depths of my mercy are open; I pour out a whole sea of graces on souls that approach the fount of my mercy. Any soul that makes its Confession and receives Holy Communion will have its sins and its punishment completely remitted. On that day are open all the Divine floodgates through which graces flow” (Diary 699).
Reflection 4
“My Lord and My God!”
Thomas the apostle was a forthright and honest man. Here he shows us that in what concerns the adventure of faith, he is not easily convinced. He refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw the risen Lord for himself.
From the mouth of the man, who has been labelled as “doubting Thomas”, came one of the greatest expressions of faith: “My Lord and my God.”
It is a statement of deep faith and one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls Him God.
In the story of Thomas, John explains that the Risen Lord lives a life that escapes our senses, a life that we cannot touch or see. It can only be the object of faith.
The tradition tells us that Saint Thomas died a martyr for his faith. He also became a messenger of Mercy to India, a missionary who shed his own blood for the Master whom he encountered on that day.
Refection by Pope Francis
He gave Thomas a week. Jesus reveals himself with His wounds: His whole body was clean, beautiful and full of light but the wounds were and are still there, and when the Lord comes at the end of the world, we will see His wounds. Before he could believe, Thomas wanted to place his fingers in the wounds. He was stubborn. But that was what the Lord wanted – a stubborn person to make us understand something greater. Thomas saw the Lord and was invited to put his finger into the wounds and He did not merely say, ‘It is true: the Lord is risen’, he went further. He said: ‘God’. He was the first of the disciples to confess the divinity of Christ after the Resurrection. And he worshipped Him.
To touch the living God, we do need to enter into the wounds of Jesus and to do so, all we need to do is go out onto the street to the wounded, the hungry, the naked, the thirsty and the enslaved. Let us ask of St. Thomas the grace to grant us the courage to enter into the wounds of Jesus with tenderness and thereby we will certainly have the grace to worship the living God.
The Glory of God
Lord, we do not ask for a great faith but for faith in a great Saviour. We pray that we may run the race before us with our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom faith depends from start to finish: Jesus who endured the shameful cross and was raised to a glorious new life in which we share. With the eyes of faith, may we always see the resplendent glory of God in the person of Jesus. Amen. Gwen Simon