4-28-19 2nd Sunday Easter Divine Mercy Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.

            On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
             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 nail marks 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 Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

730 At last Jesus’ hour arrives: he commends his spirit into the Father’s hands at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,” He might immediately give the Holy Spirit by “breathing” on his disciples. From this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

858 Jesus is the Father’s Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he “called to him those whom he desired;…. And he appointed twelve, whom also he named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach.” From then on, they would also be his “emissaries” (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own mission: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” The apostles’ ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: “he who receives you receives me.”

From “Divine Providence” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (Ch. 9.2:4-5)

9.2: THE GIFT GRANTED TO A PRIEST

4) “The priest has received gifts which have not even been conferred upon My Mother. He is united to Me and he works in Me.  Therefore, he deserves much respect from the person who seeks the Sacrament, respect in how one treats him, in the way in which one dresses, in the manner in which one accepts his advice and in the penance imposed.  

5) “That is why I ask for prayers for priests, so that faithful to their vocation and to the Grace that has been conferred upon them in My own Person, (in Persona Christi), they grant pardon and mercy to the souls.