St. John tells us that on the evening after Jesus rose from the dead, he came and stood among the disciples. He said to them, “Peace be with you!” Showing them his hands and his side, he also showed them his wounds. They knew it was truly him, the Lord, and they were filled with joy. Eight days later, Jesus came once again into the Upper Room and showed his wounds to Thomas, so that he could touch them also, and so believe and become himself a witness to the Resurrection.

To us also, on this Sunday dedicated by St. John Paul II to Divine Mercy, the Lord shows us his wounds. They are wounds of mercy. Jesus invites us to behold these wounds, to touch them as Thomas did, to heal our lack of belief. Above all, he invites us to enter into the mystery of these wounds, the mystery of God’s merciful love. Through these wounds, we can see the entire mystery of Christ: his Passion; his earthly life and ministry, filled with compassion for the weak and the sick; his incarnation in Mary’s womb. And we can retrace the whole history of salvation: the prophecies, the liberation from Egypt, the patriarchs, all the way back to Abel, whose blood cried out from the earth. All of this we can see in the wounds of Jesus, crucified and risen.

Faced with the tragic events of human history we can feel crushed at times, asking ourselves, “Why?” Humanity’s evil appears in the world like an abyss, a great void: empty of love, of goodness, of life. And so we ask: how can we fill this abyss? For us it is impossible; only God can fill this emptiness that evil brings to our hearts and to human history. It is Jesus, who died on the Cross, who rose again, who fills the abyss of sin with the depth of his mercy.

Brothers and sisters, behold the way which God has opened for us to finally go out from our slavery to sin and death, and thus enter into the land of life and peace. The risen Christ is the way and his wounds are full of mercy. Keeping our gaze on the wounds of the Risen Jesus, we can sing with the Church: “His mercy endures forever!” With these words impressed on our hearts, let us go forth, led by the hand of our Lord and Saviour, wounded and glorified, our life and our hope.