Divine Mercy Sunday

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

Acts 4.32-35;  
Psalm 117(118):2-4,15-18,22-24
I Jn 5.1-6;  
Jn 20.19-31

MERCIFUL JESUS – I TRUST IN YOU FOR YOU ARE MY LORD AND MY GOD!

What image or impression have you gotten since we started the season of Easter? A peaceful and beautiful easter morning atmosphere that resonates like the radiance of the first Easter morning or the stillness of the empty tomb.  

Today’s scripture readings present a contrast to this tranquil picture.  The power of God surges through every phrase, idea, and happening.  The Resurrection cannot be reduced to a distant event, however wonderful.  It is a force to be reckoned with.

We see the effect of the tremendous power of the Risen Lord as he bursts like fire into the midst of the disciples who were cowering behind the locked door of the upper room. Before they could say anything he gave them peace, breathed on them the Holy Spirit, and gave them the power to forgive or retain sins.

Let us forget that these were the men who were considered to be his disciples yet some fell along the way, another denied whilst one is lost in the drama. They were filled with joy and eight days later, he appeared to them again and brought doubting Thomas to a living faith.

These men and other disciples testified to the Resurrection “with great power”.  In short, because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the lives of the apostles, and through them the history of the world, are irrevocably changed.  

In his first letter, St. John investigates the relationship between an individual Christian and the power of the Resurrection. He talks about faith: that is to believe that the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God has overcome the world.

Faith in Christ means acceptance that Jesus is the one God raised from the dead. Some people feel that faith in Christ means when everything is going fine or regarding faith from personal feelings or sentiments, but St. John tells us that God has done it!

The Word of God became flesh was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, and died for the sins of mankind. Now God has raised him from the dead and exalted him. If you believe in God, believe that this is what He has done. Faith is believing in God and in what God has done.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way, “ what makes us believe is the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intangible in the natural light of reason: we believe because of the authority of God himself who reveals them (Para. 156).

In Catholicism, this faith comes first as seen in the words of St. Anselm’s fides quaerens intellectum, Faith seeking understanding means that the way to understanding is to start with God who is all-powerful, and not with our minds, whose powers are rather limited.

Saint Thomas is a model for us in our inquiry into certitude in the faith. As a disciple, we can be sure that he believed in God, but he held out against the Risen Lord because he could not accept what God had done as possible. He was mistakenly saying, “ I will believe when I understand “ When Thomas finally said “My Lord and my God” he still did not understand everything, but he had accepted the mighty works God has done in raising Jesus to new life.

He gave up wasting energy by querying and resisting God but instead opened himself to the divine energy surging through the infant Church. Like all of us, he began a journey towards deeper faith and greater understanding but rooted in his acceptance that God raised Jesus from the dead.

In our Christian lives, listening to homilies, sermons, lectures, reading the Bible and the Catechism and other intellectual activities will help us grow in understanding in our minds. The sacrament nurtures our faith, our devotion, and our spiritual lives, but it also helps us to understand in heart.

We are called not to stand at a vantage point and gaze on the Resurrection story, but be participants in the flow of the divine energy that occurred on the day of Resurrection. We are, the Church is, the Easter mystery.

In one of the apparitions of Jesus to Saint Faustina, he said, that humanity will find no peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy” As the Risen Lord offers us the gifts of Peace and Mercy today, let us not take his peace and mercy for granted but rather dispose ourselves to the authority of God who raised Jesus from the dead confident that he will make use of us as He wills. He will come to our aid. He will hear and answer our prayers.

PRAYER

Jesus, my Lord and my God.
Jesus, I Trust in you.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Divine Mercy, and for the sake of your sorrowful passion have Mercy on us and the whole world.

Fr Joseph Osho