Homily for the Sunday Mass of April 12

Sunday, April 12, 2026
2nd Sunday of Easter – Year A
Divine Mercy Sunday

Homily of Father Rémy HOUETTE

First reading: Acts 2:42-47
Psalm: Ps 117 (118), 2-4, 13-15b, 22-24
Second reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Gospel: John 20:19-31

To me He has given His infinite Mercy, and it is through it that I contemplate and adore the other Divine perfections!… Then all appear to me radiant with love,” wrote Thérèse to her sister Marie of the Sacred Heart…

Some thirty years later, this was confirmed by Jesus, appearing to Sister Faustina: "Mercy is the greatest attribute of God."

Jesus urged her to have the Church institute this feast in honor of divine mercy. Like Saint Juliana before her with the Feast of Corpus Christi, Faustina immediately understood that it would be difficult and tried to avoid this mission, but Jesus insisted, trained her for several years, and appointed her: "Secretary of His Mercy."

It was Jesus who instructed Sister Faustina that this feast should be celebrated on the second Sunday after Easter. And this was done, by the decision of Saint John Paul II, former Archbishop of Krakow, on April 30, 2000, the very day of Sister Faustina's canonization. Five years later, on April 2, 2005, John Paul II died the day before Divine Mercy Sunday. It was after Vespers; the feast had already begun.

It is therefore not by chance, but the Lord's own choice, that the feast is placed on this second Sunday of Easter, also known as Thomas Sunday. And we can discover in the liturgy of this Sunday, which predates this feast, what divine mercy is.

In the Gospel, we find gifts brought by the risen Christ: first, peace. “Peace be with you.” These are the first words of the risen Jesus to the eleven, an immense gift that encompasses all the others… Then we see that with this gift comes joy, then the Holy Spirit, then the forgiveness of sins, then the mission is entrusted, and finally, for all who desire it, life, “life in his name”… The closed doors of our fears, our self-imposed limitations, our sins, do not prevent Jesus from coming to us to offer us these gifts.

In the first reading of the Acts of the Apostles, we find: hearts filled with love, turned towards God in prayer, sharing their meals in simplicity and joy, and even sharing all their possessions… A very strong sign of love and sharing, which we still find today in the Church, lived by religious communities.

In the First Letter of Peter, the second reading, we find a living hope for which God has given us new birth in his mercy… This hope promises us an inheritance in heaven, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading… Even if we must go through “all kinds of trials for a little while longer.” We find inexpressible joy, being filled with glory, the salvation of souls.

Ultimately, these gifts, which could be summarized in words: Peace, Forgiveness, Joy, Prayer, Sharing, Promise of eternal life, are of such magnitude that they are reminiscent of an immense river.

But a river has a source. And this is the other aspect revealed by today's liturgy: the source from which this river flows. Notice that when Jesus says, "Peace be with you," he immediately shows his hands and his side. This is so striking for the disciples that they tell Thomas about it, and we know his reaction: he wants to see. But sight can be deceptive, so he also wants to touch to be sure: to put his finger in the nail marks, to put his hand in his side… And Jesus heard him and, eight days later, goes to him and answers his request: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand and put it into my side…" So it is indeed open. There is the source from which this river flows… This source is the pierced Heart of Jesus. Ezekiel had announced that a spring, then a river, would gush forth from the right side of the temple. From the right side to the left side of the heart, this is the path opened by the soldier's spear.

This is what today's opening prayer says. It asks the "God of eternal mercy" that we may truly understand: "what baptism has purified us, what Spirit has given us new birth, and what

"Blood has redeemed us." This is the source revealed by today's liturgy. It is the water that purifies, the water of baptism; it is the rebirth of the Holy Spirit as of a mother's womb (the origin of the word mercy in Hebrew); it is the blood that redeems, the blood of Christ.

Let us remember little Thérèse who, after her Christmas grace, during a Sunday Mass at Lisieux Cathedral, was deeply moved by an image of Jesus on the cross. “I felt great sorrow at the thought that this blood might fall to the ground without anyone hastening to collect it, and I resolved to stand in spirit at the foot of the cross to receive the divine dew that flowed from it, understanding that I would then have to sprinkle it on souls…” And it is to this source that she will entrust the criminal Pranzini, for whom she and Céline will pray with such confidence. She will see a very powerful sign in the fact that Pranzini, before dying, kissed the wounds of the crucifix. He has therefore gone to drink from this source…

To access this source, to be immersed in this river, one must believe. This is what Jesus said to Thomas: “Stop being an unbeliever, be a believer.” To Faustina, Jesus said: “I want my mercy to be honored.”

We must go so far as to trust and surrender the little child. Thérèse insists strongly on this point when she replies to Father Roulland, who doubts his immediate salvation if he were to die murdered rather than a martyr. She writes to him: “My path is entirely one of trust and love. I do not understand souls who are afraid of such a tender friend.”

Thérèse bears witness to this because she experienced it herself. She understood that from the beginning to the end of her life, she benefited from the Lord's mercies, and this is what she wishes to recount in order to bear witness to it. She begins her first autobiographical manuscript (Story of a Soul) by writing: "I am going to do only one thing: Begin to sing what I will repeat eternally – 'The mercies of the Lord!!!'" And she ends the third manuscript thus: "It is not because the Good Lord, in his prevenient mercy, preserved my soul from mortal sin that I rise to him through trust and love."

The prayers taught by Jesus to Faustina express this reality succinctly: "Jesus, I trust in you."

"O blood and water that flowed from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in you."

And in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: it is about offering the Father his Son, as he gave himself for us through his death on the cross and in advance in the Eucharist: “Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” This is why Jesus also tells Faustina: “The tabernacle is the throne of my mercy.”

And again this prayer which links passion and mercy: "Through his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus comes to us also in this liturgy: let us open ourselves, let us believe. There is this word spoken to us also, “Peace be with you,” and, let us be convinced, through us this peace is also offered to the whole world. Let us open ourselves to Jesus and come to him in his Eucharist.

Amen.