(Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Easter Year B)
Divine Mercy Sunday
If the last Sunday, Easter Day underlined
the mystery of the Resurrection, this present one is more of the human response
to the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection and his Absence-Presence. The
“apparitions” or rather appearances of the Risen Christ to his apostles and
disciples are not mere apparitions, but they are encounters, meetings with the
person of the Risen Lord, because the concept of “apparition” tends to limit
the event to an appearance of a ghost. But it
is the concept of “encounter” that depicts very well the realism of the event.
Having established the credibility of this realism, he sends his apostles out. As
we read in the Gospel, Apostle Thomas is probably the paradigm of every man in
the journey of faith: a passage from
incredulity to faith in the Risen Christ, from the search of evidence to the
joyful profession of faith, from
skepticism to certitude of faith, occasioned by the immensity of Divine Mercy. His mercy is bounteous and endless.
It would
have been discouraging if God works and performs his wonders once, but instead
he does them again. For the Word of God tells us: “Yahweh I have heard of your
fame, I stand in awe at your deeds. Do them again in our days, in our days make
them known. In spite of your anger, have
compassion” (Hab. 3:2). “God who
is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were
dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ” (Eph. 2:4). Upon considering the
lawlessness of man and God’s merciful love, Prophet Daniel affirmed: “The Lord
our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him” (Dan. 9:9). Isaiah put words into the
mouth of Yahweh thus: “I it is who blot out your acts of revolt for my own sake
and shall not call your sins to mind, remind me” (Is. 43:25-26a). Today as we celebrate His mercy, we cannot deny of
being recipients of his merciful love: “But who can detect his own failings?
Wash away my hidden faults” (Ps. 19:12).
We are alive today not by our power and struggles: “It is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but on God that showeth mercy” (Rm. 9:16).
Today
being Divine Mercy Sunday we are called
to celebrate God's Mercy, for the whole world is enveloped in and by the
mercy of God. Indeed, it behooves us today to affirm and reaffirm that Mercy is the most eloquent attribute of God.
In her Diary, St Faustina wrote thus:
“Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All God’s works are
crowned with mercy” (n. 301). Mercy
is the interpretative key to all the Mysteries of God and to all the Events of
our Lord Jesus. For instance: ●The creation of man is a sign of God's merciful
love. ●The incarnation of Jesus is purely a manifestation of the Divine Mercy.
●The signs and miracles performed by Jesus are equally splendid manifestation
of God's mercy. ●The Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ are maximum
expressions of Divine Mercy. ●The Resurrection doubtlessly is also an ultimate
manifestation of God's mercy. As Pope Francis would
say, Mercy is another name of God. In her Diary, St. Faustina attributed the following
words to the Merciful Lord: “Encourage souls to place great trust in My
fathomless mercy. Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach Me, for
even if it had more sins that there are grains of sand in the world, all will
be drowned in the immeasurable depths of My mercy” (n. 1059). Indeed, the responsorial Psalm picks up this theme of
the endless mercy of God thus: “His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 118:1).
It is reassuring to all of us sinners to
know that God’s mercy is beyond our
imagination and the human doubt. Jesus in today’s Gospel invited Thomas to the Sacred Heart and
He is doing same to us today. The story of Thomas no doubt is so appropriate
for this Divine Mercy Sunday. The words of Thomas reveal to us a journey of
faith and the journey reaches its apex in the mercy of our Lord. Even though he
was one of the apostles but nothing much was known about Thomas, however he
spoke and intervened four good remarkable times in the Gospels: ●First, when
Jesus received the news of the death of Lazarus and wanted to go there even
after the threat of the Jews, he said: “Let us go also and die with him” (Jn.11:16). ●Second, when Jesus says he
was going to the Father, he spoke up: “Lord, we do no not know where you are
going; how can we know the way? Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and
the life” (Jn.14:5-6). ●Third, is
his famous doubt in today’s Gospel passage: “Unless I see the nail marks in his
hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I
will not believe” (Jn.20:25). ●And
lastly, his surrender and proclamation of faith: “My Lord and my God” (Jn.20:28). These four interventions of Thomas depict four emotions that
characterize a journey of faith: frustration, questioning, seeking proof and
proclamation of faith.
In today’s Gospel (Jn. 20:19-31) we are presented with the account of the two
appearances of the risen Lord: first, to the disciples on Easter evening, and
second to Thomas a week later, and the latter is peculiar to St. John. In this episode the purpose of the
appearances of the Risen Lord is now seen as a way of establishing his
identity. Prior to this, the earlier tradition presented the Risen Lord
from a more spiritual dimension,
here instead, we see an emphasis on the
physical reality of the risen One, and this preserves the truth, the
realism and the identity of the crucified – risen Christ. St. John underlines with vigor that Christ who appears and who is in
the midst of his disciples is a living and real Being, the same Jesus that was nailed on the Cross, for this he
shows the hands and the side, those are the signs of martyrdom (v.20). He equally underlined the
different ways of manifestation of Jesus before and after the Resurrection. There
is a profound difference: He enters now unexpectedly, even when the doors are
locked. Indeed, this Gospel periscope is
replete with many themes, ranging from apparitions of the risen Lord, faith of
the apostles, to the gifts of the Risen Lord to his people.
However, the episode of the Gospel is equally situated in the context of a
Christian community. Let us take into consideration the two great gifts
that the Risen Christ brought to the first Christian community of the apostles
reunited in the Cenacle: Jesus gave them
the gift of peace “Peace be with you”. Peace biblically embraces all the
divine promises: grace, blessing, divine benevolence, interior serenity and
salvation. Secondly, he gave them the
gift of the Holy Spirit. “He breathed on them and said: receive the Holy
Spirit”. Upon this, he gave them a
mandate as well: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you
retain anyone’s sins, they are retained” (Jn.
20:23). The Holy Spirit was given to
the first Christian community and to the entire Church, specifically for the
remission of sins, and for the regeneration of men in the life of grace. Having
received this Gift, does our manner of life portray that we are regenerated?
Thomas
wanted to see him in his presence before he would believe in his absence.
After his appearance he disappeared. Every time he was recognized off he was.
In fact, in a way the Easter story is much more a story of his disappearances,
than of his appearances. Indeed, it was as if he wanted to tell them something,
to tell them: Now up to you, even though
I am alive, but I will be absent, so it is up to you, little wonder he breathed
on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Anyone who has the Christ experience
must have a change or transformation of life. And the attitude of Jesus towards Thomas the unbelieving apostle,
reflects greatly God’s faithfulness and mercy, who condescended to accept the
incredulity of man, in order to bring him to an unwavering faith, to a solid
and definitive faith: “My Lord and My God”. This has become an uninterrupted
confession of faith of the Church in the Resurrection of Christ.
The
evangelist wants to present Jesus to the Church in the new existential
condition of the Risen, as the one to whom “every power in heaven and on earth”
(Mt.28:18) has been given to, and he
transmits this power to his Church, the first is to forgive sins and second,
the proclamation of the Lordship of Christ, and this is truly the real meaning
of Easter, “It was for this purpose that Christ both died and came to life
again: so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Rm. 14:9). In order to express their
certainty in the presence of Jesus, the first disciples of Jesus, were using
the title Lord, in Greek Kyrios, Jesus is the Lord, this was the oldest and simplest form of the
profession of faith of the Christians, “if you declare with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord, and if you believe with your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved” (Rm.10:9). The Lordship of Jesus is founded on his
resurrection, and he continues to reign. And it is the Holy Spirit that
empowers us to make this proclamation of faith, for “nobody is able to say,
Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit” (1Cor.
12:3).
The
episode of today’s Gospel relative to the two apparitions of the Risen Christ
teaches us also the importance of faith in our relationship with Christ. In
fact, Thomas that was not present in the first appearance did not believe the
testimony of the other apostles. He wanted to see Him personally, touch Him, he
wanted to have a direct personal experience with Him. And he was satisfied when
Jesus appeared the second time, after eight days. This time, Thomas was present, but Jesus does not applaud the
unbelieving apostle, rather He says: “You believe because you can see me. Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn.20:29). As such, we should not ask for the tangible
demonstration or sensible experience, as Thomas did, rather the grace to grow in a pure and genuine faith. To believe entails confiding and entrusting
oneself to Christ and the testimony of the apostles: a faith that wants to
see, touch, and experience is not a true faith, but distrust and diffidence to
Christ and the first witnesses: the apostles. The Risen Lord declared
blessedness for those who believe without seeing, and it does not mean that
they (believers) will be immune to sufferings and trials.
The first reading (Acts 4:32-35) gives us indications
on how we can express and nourish this faith. The passage relates the
preaching of the apostles after the first Pentecost. Interestingly, the newly converted
Christians gather in a community, it was a gathering where all the believers
present were united heart and soul. They sell their possessions and gave the
money to the apostles for the common good. Indeed, they demonstrated their
faith by caring for the needs of all the members of the community, and probably
the needs of non-members as well. Truly, it was a community possessed of “one
heart and one mind”, no doubt, the heart and mind of Jesus. As a matter of
fact, this gesture of the Christian community is an ideal that should challenge
our present Christian communities today. Faith has to be translated into works
of charity. And indeed, in the first Christian community, they sold their goods
and possessions in order to share with others. Is this working among us today?
The first Christian community proclaims
her faith in the Risen Lord, when they reunite with one heart and one soul to
listen to the teachings of the apostles, sharing their gifts and possession
with others. Here, the sacred author presents the first Christian community in
her specific characteristics, as we have seen. They are the characteristics that should distinguish every Christian
community. Do we see these characteristics in our own Christian community?
May be in part yes, we gather to listen to the teachings of the apostles and of
Christ (even though we may not be really assiduous and faithful like the first
Christian community). However, of all these elements the one that is majorly
lacking in our communities is that which makes a Christian community to be what
it really is, not just an anonymous assembly of people. And that is fraternal union, being one
heart and one mind, being a family of God’s children. Even though, there may be
some objective difficulties: big population (human rapport becomes difficult). But
to actualize this, there is need to conquer individualism and spiritual inertia
that block the gestures of opening up to others. We cannot be Christians without being brothers, sisters and friends;
we cannot be strangers to each other. As it happens, sometimes during kiss of
peace, some people bring out their hands like corpse, no interest, no warmth,
and no concern! Where then is the
fraternal communion?
In the second reading (1Jn. 5:1-6) St. John tells us that we can overcome the world as a
result of our faith in Jesus Christ, the faith that makes us God’s children.
Here, St. John orchestrated that faith in Jesus makes us sons and daughters of
God, in the Son. As such, a condition that imposes a vital obligation upon us:
love for the Father demonstrated by caring for the needs of others.
Beloved as we celebrate His Mercy today,
let us take to heart the invitation of Jesus: "Be compassionate just as
your Father is compassionate" (Lk.6:36).
As such, we are called to be objects and
subjects of God's mercy. As daily recipients of God's mercy, we are called
to be merciful to others. The event of this passage is timeless, it is ever
new. Indeed, many a times our life as Christians is often like that of the
apostles in the upper room. We are filled with fear, doubt and worry about the
future. Behold, today Jesus is standing before us saying: Shalom! Peace be with
you, receive the Holy Spirit! Another striking element is that after the
Resurrection the wounds of Jesus remained,
the wounds reveal the victory of his Resurrection and the fact that he is
forever fixed in the act of loving for which he died. And when we reflect
on this in the light of the present pandemic, it shows that his mercy does not
seek to cover the harsh realities of life or to remove suffering, but gives us
courage to persevere and win. In this period more than ever, Jesus is present
in our midst saying: “Peace be with you”, receive His Peace and be made whole. May God continue to
show us his mercy especially in our world today, torn apart by the presages of
war, violence, hatred, fear and despondency. May the freshness of his mercy (Lam. 3:22-23) heal us and heal our
world. For
the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! Jesus
our trust is in You!! Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)
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