Does the name Dismus mean anything to you? Probably not. Many do know who he is.

It was Good Friday afternoon. Three people were being crucified that day. Jesus was being crucified in the middle. Two robbers were being crucified on either side of Jesus. People were making fun of Jesus and demanding that he come down from the Cross.

The robber on the left of Jesus was doing the same thing but not the robber on the right. The robber on the right was Dismsus. He told the other robber that they deserved to be crucified because of their life of crime.

Then Dismus said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom".

We don’t know whether Dismus was crying when he said this. We don’t know whether Dismus was suffering such pain that all he could do was say these words. What we do know is that Dismsus decided to be sorry and he decided to ask for forgiveness.

No matter what was going on inside of Dismsus the response of Jesus was the same, "Today you shall be with me in paradise".

The Gospel presents Jesus coming through the closed doors. Those are the times when we get so discouraged that we close the doors of our hearts to Jesus. Jesus still comes through.

He says to the disciples, "Peace be with you".

Peace comes from the first Resurrection gift that he gives to the Church. It is forgiveness.

As God breathed life into Adam and Eve, Jesus breathes life into his Church by giving them the gift of forgiveness.

In the early nineteen hundreds, a young girl in Poland named Faustina entered into the convent. Our Lord appeared to her in dazzling light. From his heart came a ray of red light that symbolized the blood that came from his side on the cross and that also symbolized the Eucharist.

A white light also came that symbolized the water from his side and that also symbolized Baptism and the Holy Spirit.

Faustina wrote all the words that the Risen Lord said to her. He told her that he so much desires to give his mercy to people if only they would ask for it. If only they would open the doors of their hearts and ask even if it is only a decision without any feeling and emotion.

We, the Church, have been given the power to forgive because we cannot give Divine Mercy on our own. We in the Church have the Sacrament of Penance. We also have the power to forgive and we cannot refuse anyone forgiveness who asks for it.

This is how we live the gift of Peace. This is how we live the resurrection.

Sister Faustina was canonized a saint in April of 2000. Pope John Paul II declared that this Sunday after Easter be called Divine Mercy Sunday as the Lord had requested in his apparitions to Saint Fasutina.