absolutely terrified of was a bed ridden invalid, whose only nourishment was the Holy Eucharist and water and who was the

1 Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) (Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; Jn 20: 19-31) There are few people who can claim to have driven fear and terror into the heart of Adolf Hitler. The individual whom The Fuhrer, a man deeply immersed in the occult and the machinations of Satan, was absolutely terrified of was a bed ridden invalid, whose only nourishment was the Holy Eucharist and water and who was the recipient of mystical visions concerning the life of Jesus Christ. Therese Neumann was an uneducated woman from Bavaria who had never studied biblical theology, yet her visions of the life of Christ were a faithful rendition of what the bible teaches us about Jesus Christ. Priests and biblical scholars were amazed at the depth of Therese s knowledge of the world in which Jesus lived and how accurately her visions corresponded to the words of the Gospels. But Therese did not simply have locutions and interior visions about the life of Christ. What caused Hitler to be so frightened of this bed-ridden mystic was how her visions would also be accompanied by

2 external signs that would appear on her body to reflect what was taking place in the life of Christ during a particular vision. I will warn you that what Therese experienced in her body is not for the faint of heart to see and hear and for many will appear to be more akin to a horror movie than a mystical experience given by Jesus. Therese s most dramatic experiences, the one s that terrified the likes of Hitler and members of the Gestapo who were instructed to spy on her, was what she went through on Good Friday and other Fridays throughout her life. As the vision of the Lord s passion began to unfold, from the time of the Last Supper until His burial in the tomb, Therese began to manifest on her body the physical sufferings of Jesus Christ. As Our Lord wept tears of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, blood began to pour out of Therese s tear ducts. As He was beaten and scourged by the roman soldiers, bruises and lashes appeared on Therese s back. As He was crowned with thorns, wounds began to appear on Therese s forehead, and as He was nailed to the cross, the mark of the nails, the

3 stigmata, appeared on Therese s hands, feet and above her heart. It was evident to those who watched Therese that she was in great physical and mental agony. As she watched the death of Christ unfold, she spent a long time in ecstatic prayer, contemplating the crucified Messiah and manifesting in her own body the wounds of Jesus Christ. Therese Neumann is an example of one of those few victim souls that Christ has asked to outwardly display His passion for the world to behold. As she lay in her bed, covered in blood, silently beholding the passion of Christ, she became an embodiment of Divine Mercy. Too often we can speak of Divine Mercy as detached from the Lord s Passion. We can stare at the image of Divine Mercy that St. Faustina gave us, that is of Jesus in His resurrected glory, free of the torment of His passion, and forget that He first had to suffer greatly in order for Divine Mercy to be poured forth upon the world. We can enjoy speaking of the Lord s Divine Mercy but with little suffering attached to our words. We speak of being merciful to another but omit the demands and sacrifices that will come with accepting and

4 practicing mercy. For example, we may laud those who speak out against the injustices of our times and who seek to better the conditions of the poor and oppressed, but when it comes to us having to address those injustices and assist the poor and oppressed as they are present in our lives, suddenly the appeal of being merciful wanes and we create excuses as to why we are too busy, unable and unwilling to practice the works of mercy. It is unlikely that Jesus will ask us to bear in our bodies the pain and suffering that He asked Therese Neumann to endure on Fridays throughout her life, but He will ask each of us to experience the pain and struggle that comes from allowing His Divine Mercy to be made present in our lives and in those we are called to serve. Divine Mercy Sunday compels us to never forget that in order to experience the joy of the Resurrection, we must always first pass through the Cross. We believe that we will one day see Jesus in all His glory, beholding The Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest, the one who was dead but is now alive

5 forever, the one who has the keys of David and of Hades (See Rev 1:12-13, 17-19) and whose glorious reign will never be defeated. But in this life, we must also behold Him crucified for our sins and be willing, no better yet, joyful and filled with confidence, that we are also given a chance to share in His sufferings. Because we all struggle to see joy and meaning in suffering and continually ask God why we and others have to suffer, let us become accustomed to finding consolation and encouragement in looking at an image of the crucified Lord. To pray before a crucifix, such as the beautiful ones we have in our two churches or one in your home or perhaps one you carry around in your pocket, is an opportunity, on a daily basis, to be reminded that an image of the crucified Jesus is an icon of Divine Mercy. But let us also become accustomed to being consoled and encouraged by praying before an image of the Risen Saviour, such as the beautiful image that was given to us by St. Faustina and is known around the Catholic world as the image of Divine Mercy.

6 To pray before this image is to behold what the Apostles witnessed when Jesus appeared in their midst and stretched out His hands for them to see that the most beautiful feature of His newly resurrected body was the holes in His hands, in His feet and in His side. Though He could never die again and no longer experienced any physical pain, He desired to keep the marks of His passion for us to remember that Divine Mercy came into the world through the blood drained out of His hands and feet and the blood and water that poured forth from His pierced heart. Even though Therese Neumann is most remembered for her stigmata and visions of The Lord s Passion, she also had visions of the Resurrection. It was during these visions that her body was free of physical pain, the marks of the Passion subsided and she was filled with ecstatic joy at beholding our Risen Lord. She knew that whatever measure she shared in Christ s suffering were worth the pain she endured, since her participation in the Cross was her way to know that Divine Mercy was leading her to the glory of the Resurrection.