It may be difficult to accept the Lord's infinite mercy for us. We might understand intellectually that the Lord loves us, but as an experience of the heart we may find ourselves resisting His merciful love. In today's Gospel, Thomas was not present when our risen Lord first appeared to His Apostles and He refuses to believe. Not unlike us, perhaps His disbelief was not so much in Jesus' resurrection from the dead but rather in His infinite divine mercy.

Christ is risen! After a long 40 days of fasting in Lent, we now get 50 days to celebrate Easter! Christmas and Easter together are the hinges of our Christian and Catholic faith. We celebrate God becoming man in Christ's Incarnation, and God conquering sin and death in Christ's Resurrection. The door of our salvation swings wide open to us because of these two solemn mysteries of our faith.

We celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend and enter into the most solemn week of our Church year. As Jesus enters Jerusalem where He will be crucified, make the special intention to unite your sufferings with His sufferings this week. While no one looks forward to suffering, we need to keep our head and heart lifted up to see that the Cross leads to the Resurrection, that the life that Jesus gives triumphs over death.

Christ is risen from the dead! I know, I know…it sounds like I'm two weeks early in saying that, but today's Scriptures with the raising of Lazarus from the dead give us an insight into the power that Christ has over death and fixes our hearts on Easter and the resurrection Christ brings.