The second Sunday after Easter is designated Divine Mercy Sunday. It's a recent feast in the Church, instituted in 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II. He felt that immediately after Easter, while the Paschal mysteries were fresh in our hearts, we needed an opportunity to reflect more deeply on God's great mercy manifested in the Resurrection.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus in today's reading came to know the Lord in the "breaking of the bread"—the Eucharist. We can see that their encounter with Jesus that day parallels the way Jesus comes to meet us in every Mass.
We like the idea of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but we seldom like the idea of being sheep—people who blindly follow anyone or anything. However, that's not what sheep and shepherds are like in real life.
Most of us have been either literally or figuratively lost at some time, not knowing which way to go, and feeling a surge of fear and panic. The Apostles in today's Gospel were feeling lost, because Jesus had just told them he was going to leave them in order to be crucified and die. Thomas said ...
