SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER - A : DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have come to the completion of the glorious Easter Octave, the Second Sunday of Easter, as we continue to embark on this joyful journey and time, and as we gather together to celebrate the Lord’s glorious Resurrection joyfully, we are reminded, as always, of the love and kindness that He, the Lord has always shown us. Through His Passion and death, His glorious Resurrection, the Risen Lord has brought us all from the darkness into the light; He has restored hope to all of us who have been suffering in the darkness, so that each and every one of us may once again live with Him in true joy and happiness. This is why Pope St. John Paul II named the Second Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday, in reference to St. Faustina Kowalska's vision of the Aspect of the Lord as Divine Mercy, which focuses on the merciful and compassionate nature of our loving God and Father.

Today, dear friends, Jesus does not knock. He does not wait for us to be “ready” or “holy enough” to open the door. He simply stands in our midst and says, “Peace be with you.”

However, the Risen Lord Jesus revealed the glory of his resurrection to his disciples gradually and over a period of time. Even after the apostles saw the empty tomb and heard the reports of Jesus' appearance to the women, they were still weak in faith and fearful of being arrested by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus appeared to them, he offered proofs of his resurrection by showing them the wounds of his passion, his pierced hands and side. He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes us friends of God.

Moreover, Jesus did something which only love and trust can do. He commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father. Jesus fulfilled his mission through his perfect love and obedience to the will of his Father. He called his first disciples, and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of us the same Holy Spirit who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to live each day as followers of the Risen Lord.

The last apostle to meet the resurrected Lord was the first to go with him to Jerusalem at Passover time. The apostle Thomas was a natural pessimist. When Jesus proposed that they visit Lazarus after receiving news of his illness, Thomas said to the disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). While Thomas deeply loved the Lord, he lacked the courage to stand with Jesus in his passion and crucifixion. After Jesus' death, Thomas made the mistake of withdrawing from the other apostles. He sought loneliness rather than fellowship in his time of trial and adversity. He doubted the women who saw the resurrected Jesus, and he doubted his own fellow apostles.

When Thomas finally had the courage to rejoin the other apostles, the Lord Jesus made his presence known to him and reassured him that he had indeed overcome death and risen again. When Thomas recognized his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God! Through the gift of faith, we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. He died and rose that we, too, might have new life in him. The Lord offers each of us new life in his Holy Spirit that we may know him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of his resurrection.

Jesus’ response to Thomas, after he recognized Him as ‘My Lord and my God’, has a mysterious fascination that must relate not so much to the disciples, those who “have seen”, but rather to those, like us, who were added to their number afterwards. “You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (Jn 20:29)

The first reading (Acts 2:42-47) tells us how the early Church grew every day because of the acts of mercy, sharing, sacrificial agápe love, practiced by the early Christians. In the second reading (1 Pt 1:3-9), St. Peter glorifies God, the Father of Jesus Christ, for showing us His mercy by granting to His Incarnate, Only-begotten Son, Jesus, the gifts of Resurrection from the dead and a glorious Ascension into Heaven, thus assuring us of our own resurrection. 

Today we meet with the risen Christ, just as St Thomas did. Sharing in the Eucharist is our statement of loyalty, our act of personal and shared faith. In praying the Eucharist together, we help each other’s faith and strengthen our Christian community. It was because the members of the early Church in Jerusalem met in public for prayer and seemed such a joyful little community, that so many others came to believe, and the church grew rapidly in those early, Spirit-filled days.

Dear friends, we are invited to receive liberation from doubts and hesitation by surrendering our lives to the Risen Lord of Mercy.  Let us ask God our Father to open our hearts so that we may receive His Mercy in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Let us ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

Let us be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

And let us completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that our reception of the graces of His mercy is dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive his mercy.

Lord Jesus Christ, through your victory over sin and death, you have overcome all the powers of sin and darkness. Help us to draw near to you and to trust in your life-giving word. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and strengthen our faith in your promises and our hope in the power of your resurrection. Bring us back to you in times of doubt and confusion, for your mercy and love endure forever. 

Amen!

By B'rata Joe H., Sdb - Ptite Light