By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted April 10, 2026

(See the readings for the Second Sunday of Easter, or Sunday of Divine Mercy)

The Incredulity of Thomas is a painting by Michaelangelo Caravaggio located in the Sanssouci Picture Gallery in Potsdam, Germany. The picture was inspired by the resurrection account from the Gospel According to John proclaimed at this Sunday’s liturgy for Divine Mercy Sunday.

In the painting, the figure of Jesus, gently but firmly, takes the hand of Thomas. Two other disciples are gazing fixedly at Thomas’ hand. Typical of Caravaggio’s style, the figures are bathed in light but surrounded by darkness. Jesus appears very much at peace as He guides Thomas’ finger into His wounded, now unbloodied, side. Thomas cannot look and stares off to the side.

The artist captures this moment just before Thomas’ previously expressed doubts are exchanged with the great profession of faith. In a powerful manner, the artist captures an important truth about the resurrection: “By his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3).

Jesus’ first words on entering the locked room that Easter Sunday night are “Peace be with you!” Peace is His message. His greeting dispels the fear of the disciples. Sadness and grief are replaced with joy. Three times in this short passage we hear the same greeting: “Peace be with you.” The peace He offers is not like that of the world which is fleeting, transient, and temporary. It is one that transcends time and place, that repairs and heals, that bestows life.

As Jesus shows the disciples His hands and side, they see the injuries of His body having no power to impede Him. He is alive and no ghost. Thomas, absent from the first encounter, does not believe. He is adamant that he will not believe until he touches the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and puts his finger into His wounded side. When Jesus comes the second time, Thomas is present. Jesus immediately goes to Him and offers Himself. He wants Thomas to be freed from fear, to be freed from doubt, which is confirmed when Thomas offers his great profession of faith: “My Lord and my God.”

The transforming power of Christ’s victory is seen in the life of the Church. St. Luke recalls in the Acts of the Apostles (first reading) the Spirit-imbued charity of the communion of faith. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers…. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.” Those who saw this were filled with awe. “And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

Likewise, the First Letter of Peter (second reading) describes the hope born of “His great mercy through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” He describes the sufferings of the present as temporary and a source of strength “so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The words of Jesus to Thomas reverberate as we hear: “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Jesus has healed us through His passion and death. On the cross He pours out His life in mercy for the forgiveness of sin. Now He pours into us the breath of life, a life that enables us to touch the wounds of our world and to transform them with the healing grace of His resurrection. He says: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

He sends us into the broken world to touch its wounds. He sends us to the sick and infirmed. He sends us to those with broken relationships. He sends us to those who despair. He sends us to the lonely. He sends us to the isolated. He sends us to the immigrant. He sends us to the imprisoned. He sends us to the poor. He sends us to the homeless. He sends us to those who doubt.

Jesus invited Thomas to touch His wounds so that he might believe. He invites us to touch the wounds of our world so that all may believe, be freed from fear, and share in the life He has won for us. “The Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia!”

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Penndel and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.