(Homily for 2nd Sunday of Easter Year C)
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
(merciful love) 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 (the
abode of Mercy) 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 the Gospel (Jn. 20:19-31) of today 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 are we 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
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 appearances, 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.
Indeed, the Resurrection of Jesus becomes the Yes of God to His Son Jesus
Christ, Redeemer of every man. The Resurrection of Jesus is a motive of joy
for us, because as St. Peter opined “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Pt. 1:3). God is faithful, for this
He did not abandon the life of His Son to death. May the Risen Lord fortify our little faith in Him and give us joy in
times of affliction!
The first reading (Acts 5:12-16) from the Acts of the Apostles
reveals the power of the risen Christ at work in the Christian community. The power of the risen Christ is manifested
in the signs and wonders that were accomplished by through the apostles.
Even though, no mention was made of any preaching at this passage, however, it
is obvious that there cannot be signs and wonders without the proclamation of
the word. Again, it was recorded that more than ever, new converts were added
into an already existing community. The
phrase “were added” denotes an action of God, it is a reverential passive
indicating that it was God who added them.
The second reading (Rev. 1:9-11a.12-13.17-19) presents the
opening vision of the book of Revelation, in which John; the visionary sees the risen Christ and receives the messages for
the seven churches. Some biblical scholars have maintained that this vision is
a continuation of the resurrection appearances, however, the fact remains that
the language of vision is used in the episodes of the original appearances (cf. 1Cor.15:3-8), in verse 8 St. Paul asserts that the
apparition he had on his way to Damascus is the last of the apparitions.
However, the visions of the risen Lord still continues, in fact Paul himself
had a later vision of the risen Christ (cf.
2Cor. 12:1-4). Above all, the
underlining factor is that the resurrection appearances were revelations that
formed the Church and gave rise to her mission in the world. On the other
hand, the subsequent visions, for instance in 2Cor. 12:1-4 and this passage are continuations of what was begun
at Easter. The overriding message of this passage is Christ’s revelation of
himself as alive!
The
climax of this proclamation, Jesus himself is presented in his heavenly royal
majesty, in his vision, John said “I turned round to see who was speaking
to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp stands, and in the middle of
them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a
belt of gold” (Rev. 1:12-13), and He was proclaiming in first person: Do
not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead
and look, I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of
Hades” (Rev. 1:17b-18). The message
for the recognition of the Lordship of Christ is addressed to us today, little
wonder the following words were addressed to John, thus: “I heard a loud voice
behind me, like the sound of a trumpet, saying, write down in a book all that
you see and send it to the seven churches” (Rev.
1:10b-11a).
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 tragic realities in our
world, 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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