Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) - Year C

Christ and St. Thomas

Andrea del Verrocchio's sculpture
of the incredulity of St. Thomas.

Octave of Easter (Low Sunday)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_of_Easter

The term Octave of Easter may refer either to the eight-day period (Octave) from Easter Sunday until the Sunday following Easter, inclusive; or it may refer only to that Sunday after Easter, theOctave Day of Easter (sometimes known as Low Sunday). That Sunday is also known historically as St. Thomas Sunday (especially among Eastern Christians), Quasimodo Sundayand Quasimodogeniti. Since 1970 Low Sunday has been officially known as the Second Sunday of Easter (referring to the Easter season) in the Roman Catholic Church. On April 30, 2000, it was also designated as Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope John Paul II.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 20:19-31.

- - -
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." 
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

NIGHT OFFICE

Origin; Cited in Christ Our Light: Patristic Readings on Gospel Themes, Vol 1, Friends of Henry Ashworth, Ed.. Tr. 1981, Exordium Books, Riverdale, MD. pp. 175-175

From a commentary on Saint John's gospel

by Saint Cyril of Alexandria (Lib. 12: PG 74, 704-705)

This work was written before the outbreak of the Nestorian controversy in 429. Its aim is to bring out the dogmatic meaning of the gospel and to refute heretical teaching. One of the fundamental aspects of Cyril's theology is his insistence on the glory of Christ. In the following reading he stresses the spiritual qualities of the resurrected body of our Lord. The glory of Christ is inseparable from his divinity but it was hidden by his kenosis at the incarnation. This glory our Lord revealed to chosen witnesses at his transfiguration. Hence the allusion to this mystery.

By his miraculous entry through closed doors Christ proved to his disciples that by nature he was God and also that he was none other than their former companion. By showing them his side and the marks of the nails, he convinced them beyond a doubt that he had raised the temple of his body, the very body that had hung upon the cross. He had destroyed death's power over the flesh, for as God, he was life itself.

Because of the importance he attached to making his disciples believe in the resurrection of the body, and in order to prevent them from thinking that the body he now possessed was different from that in which he had suffered death upon the cross, he willed to appear to them as he had been before, even though the time had now come for his body to be clothed in a supernatural glory such as no words could possibly describe.

We have only to recall Christ's transfiguration on the mountain in the presence of his holy disciples, to realize that mortal eyes could not have endured the glory of his sacred body had he chosen to reveal it before ascending to the Father. Saint Matthew describes how Jesus went up the mountain with Peter, James, and John, and how he was transfigured before them. His face shone like lightning and his clothes became white as snow. But they were unable to endure the sight and fell prostrate on the ground.

And so, before allowing the glory that belonged to it by every right to transfigure the temple of his body, our Lord Jesus Christ in his wisdom appeared to his disciples in the form that they had known. He wished them to believe that he had risen from the dead in the very body that he had received from the blessed Virgin, and in which he had suffered crucifixion and death, as the Scriptures had foretold. Death's power was over the body alone, and it was from the body that it was banished. If it was not Christ's dead body that rose again, how was death conquered, how was the power of corruption destroyed? It could not have been destroyed by the death of a created spirit, of a soul, of an angel, or even of the Word of God himself. Since death held sway only over what was corruptible by nature, it was in this corruptible nature that the power of the resurrection had to show itself in order to end death's tyranny.

When Christ greeted his holy disciples with the words: Peace be with you, by peace he meant himself, for Christ's presence always brings tranquility of soul. This is the grace Saint Paul desired for believers when he wrote: The peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. The peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, is in fact the Spirit of Christ, who fills all those who share in him with every blessing.

Responsory                                                John 20:19-20

Rising from the dead

the Lord Jesus stood among his disciples and said:

-Peace be with you, alleluia.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord, alleluia.

On the first day of the week,

the disciples were gathered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews;

Jesus stood among them and said:

-Peace be with ...