During the canonization of the Polish visionary, Sister Faustina Kowalska, on April 30,
2000, St. John Paul II announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would be
celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” This decision was prompted by St. Faustina’s
spiritual experiences.
What does “mercy” mean? St. Thomas Aquinas affirms that “Mercy is especially to be
attributed to God” (1a. 21, 3). According to Thomas, the Latin word, misericors, “being
merciful,” is based on the two words miserum (sorrowful) and cor (heart), understood
not as sorrowful for ourselves but for another. Misericors, “merciful,” is, Thomas tells us
“being affected with sorrow at the misery of another as though it were our own.”
The “effect of mercy” is that the person “endeavors to dispel the misery of this other as if
it were his” (1a. 21, 3). God does not have bodily emotions and so does not have sad
feelings as we do when we see sad things. Rather He knows our difficulties and wills to
do something about them. Thomas points outs that God, rather than having emotional
feelings, brings about the “effect of mercy”: “It does most properly belong to Him to
dispel that misery whatever the defect” (1a. 21, 3).
Thomas explains: “Defects are not removed, except by the perfection of some kind of
goodness: and the primary source is God” (1a. 21, 3).
God’s mercy is wondrously manifested in forgiveness of our sins, still, His mercy is not
limited to our sins. God’s mercy is present in every aspect of God’s relations to us, and
is related to His goodness, His justice and His liberality.
Because of His goodness, God gives particular “perfections” by which Thomas means
the goods that we receive related to our nature as human persons. These come from
“from His goodness absolutely.”
We usually think of “justice” as rewards and punishments for behavior. By “justice,”
Thomas means giving to each one what is due to him or her. God’s justice to us is first
of all equipping us for human life. These “perfections” are given “in proportion”
according to His justice. We just assume that our bodies and minds are outfitted for life,
but Thomas reminds us that every part of us is a gift.
Justice is necessarily present throughout creation, in the sense that God gives what we
need: “Whatever is done by God in created things is done according to proper order and
proportion in which consists the idea of justice. Thus justice must exist in all God’s
works” (1a. 21, 4).
God’s gifts to us are “not for His own use but only on account of His goodness.” In other
words, God gives generously not for Himself but for us. Thomas speaks of this as God’s
“liberality.”
Mercy is applied to our “defects,” or deficiencies. The “perfections,” or good things that
are given by God “expel defects” and “belong to His mercy” (1a. 21, 3).

On some occasions, we expect a sterner justice rather than mercy. Yet, God is merciful,
as Thomas observes: “God acts mercifully, not indeed by going against His justice, but
by doing something more than His justice.”
Thomas proposes the example of a man who pays another person two hundred pieces
of money when he owes one hundred. The man “does nothing against justice, but acts
liberally or mercifully. The case is the same with one who pardons an offence committed
against him, for in remitting it he may be said to bestow a gift” (1a. 21, 3).
Thomas recalls the words of the Letter to the Ephesians: “Forgive one another, as
Christ has forgiven you” (Eph 4:32). Thomas asserts: “Mercy does not destroy justice,
but in a sense is the fullness of it, as the Letter of James declares, ‘mercy triumphs over
judgement’ (Ja 2:13)” (1a. 21, 3).
None of us can claim that because we exist we are entitled to have all that humans
have. In fact, everything we have is given mercifully: “The work of divine justice always
presupposes the work of mercy; and is founded upon it. For nothing is due to creatures
… we must come to something that depends only on the goodness of the divine will –
which is the ultimate end” (1a. 21, 4).
God gives us what relates to ur nature. Thus hands are given to a human because of
the rational soul and the rational soul is given that a person may be human. Each step
is a gift.
Thomas explains: “His being human is on account of the divine goodness. So in every
work viewed at its primary source there appears mercy. In all that follows, the power of
mercy remains and works with greater force; as the influence of the first cause {God} is
more intense than that of the second causes {ourselves}. For this reason, does God out
of the abundance of His goodness bestow upon creatures what was due them more
bountifully than is proportionate to their deserts: since less would suffice for preserving
the order of justice than what divine goodness confers; because between creatures and
God’s goodness there can be no proportion” (1a. 21, 4).
Jesus reveals the mercy of the Father, as Saint John Paul asserts: “Not only does
Jesus speak of it [mercy] and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but
above all He Himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He Himself, in a certain
sense, is mercy” (Dives in Misericordia, 2).
Pope Francis, likewise, asserts that Jesus is the manifestation of God’s mercy: “Jesus
Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of
the Christian faith. Mercy has become visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its
culmination in Him” (Misericordiae Vultus, 1).
Thomas attests that mercy is proper to God: “In itself, mercy takes precedence of other
virtues, for it belongs to mercy to be bountiful to others, and what is more, to succor
others in their wants, which pertains chiefly to one who stands above. Hence mercy
belongs properly to God: and in that His omnipotence is declared to be chiefly
manifested” (2a2ae. 30, 4). Pope Francis calls attention to this final sentence of Thomas
(see Misericordiae Vultus, 6).

God desires that we also give mercy to others: “Mercy, in which we supply others’
defects is a sacrifice more acceptable to Him, in conducing more directly to our
neighbor’s well-being, according to Hebrews: ‘Do not neglect to do good and to share
what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God’” (Heb 13:16).
Saint John Paul states the necessity to believe in mercy:
“Believing in the crucified Son means ‘seeing the Father,’ means believing that
love is present in the world and that this love is more powerful than any kind of
evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are involved. Believing in this
love means believing in mercy. For mercy is an indispensable dimension of love;
it is as it were love’s second name and, at the same time, the specific manner in
which love is revealed and effected vis-a-vis the reality of the evil that is in the
world, affecting and besieging man, insinuating itself even into his heart…” (Dives
in Misericordia, 13).
Since every day is a day of mercy, why do we celebrate Divine Mercy particularly on
this Sunday? Every Gospel is a Gospel of mercy but, today’s Gospel, (Jn 20:19-31),
especially demonstrates Jesus’ mercy. St. Thomas writes about this passage: “Here we
have the strongest signs of God’s profound pity” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the
Gospel of John, 2547).
On Easter evening, the disciples were in a locked room, when the Risen Jesus
appeared. Because of their fear that He was a ghost, He showed them His hands and
His side. One of the apostles, Thomas was not with the others. When they told Thomas
that they had seen the Lord, he said: “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails
and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not
believe” (Jn 20:25),
The following Sunday evening, Jesus appeared again. As He entered the room, he
announced: “Peace be with you.” Thomas reflects: “That is the peace coming from
reconciliation, reconciliation with God, which Jesus said had now been accomplished:
‘We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son’ (Rom 5:10); making peace by the
blood of His cross (Col 1:20) … and also the peace of charity and unity, which He
commanded them to maintain: ‘Be at peace with one another’ (Mk 9:49)” (Commentary
on John, 2555).
Aquinas makes reference to St. Gregory that it was not by accident that Thomas was
missing on the first Sunday but by God’s will: “It was in the plans of divine pity that by
feeling the wounds in the flesh of his Teacher, the doubting disciple should heal in us
the wounds of disbelief … the disbelief of Thomas was of more benefit to our faith that
the faith of the disciples who did believe” (Commentary on John, 2547).
Aquinas compares Thomas’ state with Jesus disposition: “An abyss has both depth and
darkness. And Thomas was an abyss on account of the darkness of his disbelief, of
which he was the cause. Again, there is an abyss – the depths of Christ’s compassion –
which He had for Thomas. We read: ‘Deep calls to deep’ (Psalm 42:7). That is the
depths of Christ’s compassion calls to the depths of darkness [of disbelief] in Thomas,

and Thomas’ abyss of unwillingness [to believe] calls out, when he professes the faith,
to the depths of Christ” (Commentary on John, 2545).
Why did Jesus retain His wounds in His risen body? For one thing, the wounds
confirmed to the disciples, especially Thomas, that the one who appeared was really
Jesus. Aquinas observes: “Although Thomas said these things because of his own
doubts, this was arranged by God for our benefit and progress. It is certain that Christ,
who arose as a complete person, could have healed the marks of the wounds; but He
kept them for our benefit” (Commentary on John, 2550).
Aquinas recalls the words of Augustine in his work On the Creed: “Christ could have
removed all traces of His wounds from His risen and glorified body, but He had reasons
for retaining them” (Commentary on John, 2557). Augustine thinks that unbelievers and
sinners will be shown the wounds: “Look at the side you have pierced. It was opened for
your sake, and you refused to enter” (Commentary on John, 2557).
Aquinas affirms: “The scars that remained in Christ’s body belong … to the greater
increase of glory inasmuch as they are the trophies of His power; and a special beauty
will appear in the places scarred by the wounds” (3a. 54, 4, ad1).
St. Catherine of Siena, also a Dominican, affirmed, “I see that there is no comparison
between the divine mercy and my sins. Furthermore, if all the sins which are able to be
committed were gathered together in one creature, they are less than one little drop of
vinegar in the midst of the sea” (Letter 314).
Catherine exclaimed, “Everywhere I look, I see mercy” (Prayer, XIX).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.
References to the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas give the part of the
Summa, the question and the article. If the passage is found in a response to an
objection that Thomas has introduced in the first part of the article, the Latin word “ad,”
meaning “to,” is added with the number of the objection.
References to Thomas Commentary on the Gospel of John may be found in the
translation by Fr. James A. Weisheipl, O.P. and Fabian R. Larcher, O.P., published by
St. Bede’s Publications.