The readings this week serve to remind their hearers that the Easter season is about both celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus and doing something about it: They are full of messages about call, sending, mission.

THE FACE OF mercy looks different for each of us. For me, it’s a middle-aged religious sister with dark curls, a round face, and soft eyes who taught at my high school 35 years ago.

Faith in God’s Love and the commandments to love give us the power to conquer the world. And our reward is peace, the peace Christ gave to us.    

Let us pray for the love in which we follow and obey our God.

For some, Thomas is the one who gave his name to doubting (bad), while to others he is a hero of faith for sticking, Job-like, to his guns and believing only after he has seen and heard the genuine article (good).

If you ever are in a “Thomas state of mind”—doubting your faith, doubting God’s love, doubting our hope for redemption—consider all the great Christians who have gone before you who have experienced similar doubts: Mother Teresa, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Thomas Aquinas, to name but a few. Doubt

Love was meant to be also a sign, a symbol, a messenger, a telltale of the Divine. —Abp. Fulton J. Sheen, From the Angel’s Blackboard