Today, the 2^nd Sunday of Easter, is also Divine Mercy Sunday, which Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, proclaimed in accordance with the revelations of our Lord to St. Faustina.

Most of us are familiar with the Divine Mercy image.  It is a painting depicting the Risen Jesus, with two rays of light emanating from His heart: a red one and a white one which represent the blood and water that flowed from His side as He hung upon the Cross.  The blood and water from the side of Jesus is God’s promise to you and me that the gap, the chasm, between God and humanity has been bridged.  It is the promise of the “marvelous exchange” that we discussed last week.  It is the promise that God’s mercy is open to all of us.

Underneath the depiction of Jesus is the inscription, “Jesus, I trust in You.” 

Those words lie at the heart of what we are to do in order to obtain the mercy of God – TRUST in it, TRUST in Him.

It sounds like such a simple thing, yet it is often the most difficult thing to do.

The gospel reading today (John 20: 19-31) reminds us of the greatest obstacle in our lives to exercising trust in God: FEAR. 

Fear in our lives must be replaced by God’s peace.  The disciples are gathered in fear.  It is the evening of that first Easter Sunday.  Most of them have not yet seen the Risen Lord.  They don’t yet know what is happening.  All of their hopes and dreams seemed to have been destroyed.  And they are afraid – afraid that they will be next.  Jesus comes into their midst and says, “Peace be with you.”  The disciples’ fear is replaced with rejoicing. 

When we are not at peace interiorly (and any number of things in our lives can lead us to experience turmoil rather than peace), we experience fear.  When we act on that fear, it leads us to do all sorts of things that reinforce the lack of peace.  We try to plan and control every aspect of our lives, because we think that this illusion of control will give us the peace we seek.  In fact, however, it only leads to more disruption in our lives.  It is most disruptive in our relationships with other people – especially those closest to us.  Think of how often and of how many ways we try to control others.  We try to get them to do what we think that they should.  We try to get them to react to us in way we think that they should.  And then we grow frustrated because they just won’t always do what we want them to do.

Then, when we see the failure of the prideful plan that we created and set in motion, we turn and blame God for it.

Faith demands that we recognize the reality that the most important parts of our lives are beyond our ability to control and to be okay with that fact.

Ultimately, in all of this, we are talking about a failure in trust:  failing to trust that our Lord is in control of our lives, and that He has providential care for us.  It is also failing to trust that He is active in the lives of others, even if we are unable to see it or understand it. 

“Jesus, I trust in You.”  It sounds simple enough, and, in reality, it is.  But it is also a challenge.  Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus tells us, “unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

When He says that, Jesus is talking about trust.  Think how babies and toddlers trust in their parents.  They don’t worry and plot and plan and try to control.  They just trust – trust that their parents will feed them, clothe them, keep them safe and warm, love them.

That is how we are called to be with our Heavenly Father on a spiritual level.  And it is on a spiritual level.  Trusting in God does not mean that we abdicate our responsibilities, in fact, if anything, it means that we become truly responsible.  We continue to do our work, pay our bills, make our mortgage payments, save for our retirement and our children’s education. 

Because those are ways in which our Father provides for our material needs and invites us to share in responsibility with Him.

But He also wants us to be happy, peaceful, and joyful people.  He wants us to be certain in His love for us.  He wants us to be free from fear.  He wants us to exercise our faith in Him during the times that are difficult: when we experience economic setbacks, physical illness, the loss of loved ones.

He wants us to know that He is always with us and that everything, even if we can’t see how, is working together for our good.

If we trust Him.

Lord Jesus Christ, it is my prayer that You will grant to all who are gathered here and to everyone in this parish a share in that marvelous trust You have in the Father: the trust You had in Him as You hung upon the Cross, the trust that led to Your Resurrection.  Amen.