On Sunday 7 April, parishes across the Archdiocese of Melbourne celebrated the beloved feast of Divine Mercy Sunday, which is also the conclusion of the Easter Octave.
In Bayswater, hundreds gathered at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, where Archbishop Peter A Comensoli celebrated Mass following a time of eucharistic adoration, confession and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. There was also a community procession with the Divine Mercy image, with participants singing and praying the chaplet as they walked outside the church.
Archbishop Comensoli also led the community in the consecration to Divine Mercy, the culmination of a nine-day novena prayed together by the parish. Throughout the nine days, a first-class relic of St Faustina was available for veneration.
During his homily, Archbishop Comensoli reflected on how the life of the earliest Christian communities, especially as described in the Acts of the Apostles, was founded in their belief in the resurrection of Christ from the dead—a belief that came from seeing the resurrected Christ with their own eyes.
‘The resurrection is God’s most merciful act of creation: in his Son’s arising, God re-created the world, and us,’ he said. ‘To trust in this mercy—present from the beginning of creation—is to have faith in Christ’s victory over death, including our death.’
Do not be afraid to place your own hands into Christ’s side, and to touch his resurrected wounds. For when we do so, we are binding ourselves to God’s life in us.
He highlighted the experience of St Thomas the Apostle. ‘What a change he had gone through! Doubter, unbeliever, sceptic in Christ’s resurrection, to powerful testifier, encourager and believer. To become a believer in the resurrection of Christ was life-changing.’
Archbishop Comensoli suggested that Thomas offers a good model for faith today, showing us ‘how to believe in a sceptical world’.
‘He was able to accept the truth of Jesus’ resurrection on seeing him. And in accepting that the resurrection happened, he accepted the divinity of Christ, his risen friend and Master … So do not be afraid to place your own hands into Christ’s side, and to touch his resurrected wounds. For when we do so, we are binding ourselves to God’s life in us.’
While we do not have Christ’s physical body with us today, we do have Christ’s ‘invisible Body’—‘in the Church, sacramentally, and in the poor, who are present among us’.
Following the Mass, Fr Sabu Thomas Adimakayil, parish priest at Bayswater, thanked Archbishop Comensoli, and together with the leadership team, they marked the novena and consecration as a time of real ‘spiritual renewal’ for the parish.
Afterwards, the community gathered to enjoy a delicious spread of food and beverages in the main hall.
