Mother Church celebrates Sunday, April 16, 2023 as the Second Sunday of Easter. It is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday because it is originally based on the devotion to the Divine Mercy, which Saint Faustina reported as part of her encounter with Jesus. It is therefore associated with special promises from Jesus and indulgences issued by the Church. In the entrance Antiphon we pray: “Like newborn infants, you must long for the pure, spiritual milk, that in him you may grow to salvation. Alleluia.”
The keynote of this day’s Mass, and of all the Easter season, is no doubt Saint Thomas’ explicit profession of faith in the risen Lord in Saint Luke’s Gospel – “My Lord and my God!” The Gospels continue to relate the appearances of Jesus to those who accept him and are gathered together in his name. In the first reading, the Acts of the Apostles narrate the life of the early Christian community of Jerusalem. Though small in size, it possesses a strong missionary spirit and zeal as it spreads Christ’s message to the Holy City and to the world at large. In it, the members live together and own and share everything in common. In the second reading, Saint Peter tells us that Christ’s resurrection is not just one article of faith among others; it is the very core of the Christian faith and the source of all hope. This is a message of consolation to the community which is still unsure of what to make of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of their Master Jesus Christ. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace of faith to believe in the resurrected Christ, who is our Lord and our God!
First Reading: Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Comment
Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament, written between 70 and 90 AD by Saint Luke, who is also the author of the Gospel that bears his name. It gives an account of the early preaching about Jesus Christ, the growth of the early Christian community, and the spread of the Gospel message from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
In the passage of our meditation, we are presented a beautiful picture of the life of the early Christian community of Jerusalem, whose members live together and own everything in common. Even though it is a small community, it possesses a great missionary spirit, zeal and enthusiasm to spread Christ’s message first to the city and later to the four corners of the earth. The person who directs the early mission of the Church is the Holy Spirit himself. His promptings urge the great witnesses of the resurrection, especially Peter and Paul, to spread the word from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
For Saint Luke, the church of Jerusalem remains the mother Church. He has the highest regard for the preaching and Christian living of the first Christian community. The Apostles, the privileged witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, direct the faithful and form a community united in prayer, breaking bread together and sharing everything in common.
Saint John Paul II says of this passage that “The members of the first Christian community are seen in [Acts of the Apostles] as devoted to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Without any doubt,” continues the Holy Father, “we find in that the lasting image of the Church being born of and continually nourished by the word of the Lord, thanks to the teaching of the Apostles, celebrating that word in the Eucharistic sacrifice and bearing witness to it before the world in the sign of charity” (Saint Pope JP II, Catechesi tradendae, 10).
Let us pray for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit, who fortifies us for our pilgrimage on earth with this prayer which Saint Augustine composed to the Holy Spirit: “Breathe into me, Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Move in me, Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Attract my heart, Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy. Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy. Protect me, Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy.” I make this prayer through the Resurrected Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia!
Second Reading: 1 Peter 1: 17-21
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time. In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Comment
Before we receive the message Saint Peter has for us, let us take a quick look at who he is. He was originally called Simeon, in Hebrew (Acts 15:14), or Simon, the Greek form of the same name (Mt 16:17; Lk 22:31), but Jesus surnamed him Cephas, which means stone or rock (Jn 1:42). From this name comes the Greek name Petrus [Peter], which means rock.
Like most of Christ’s first disciples, Simon Peter was a native of Bethsaida, a city in Galilee on the north-east shore of Lake Tiberius (Jn 1: 44). Like his brother Andrew, who brought him to Jesus (Jn1:35), Peter was a fisherman (Mt 4:18). We also know that Peter was married, because Jesus cured his mother-in-law, who was down with a fever (Mt 8:14).
Together with the Zebedee brothers, James and John, whom Jesus named “Boanerges”, that is, “sons of thunder” (Mk 3:17), Peter was, with James and John, the members of the inner circle of our Lord’s apostolic college. They were the only ones to witness the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5:37), the transfiguration of our Lord (Mk 9:2) and his agony in the garden of Olives (Mk 14: 33).
Peter often acts as the spokesman for the Apostles. When our Lord asks them who they believe he is, it is Simon Peter who speaks for the others: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16: 15-16) and because of that Christ makes him the head of his Church on earth, the first Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, the Vicar of Christ on earth, Servant of the servants of God [Servus Servorum Dei]. His visible successor is Pope Francis.
In this short passage, Peter reminds us of our Christian calling. The prayerful tone of the first verses of this letter has made some people consider them as part of a baptismal hymn. He reminds us that we, as Christians, must be ready to be tested by the fires of persecution. But we should not be discouraged as the Father’s love and mercy have been revealed through the new birth brought about by his Son, whom he has raised from the dead. His resurrection is not just an article of faith, one among others. It is the very core of our Christian faith and the source of our hope for eternal life.
Every Christian has attained the honour of being a son or daughter of God. Man’s salvation comes about in Christ. From eternity, it was God’s design to save men and women through Christ, who offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He rose from the dead and was glorified, a further reason why Christians should grow in their desire for holiness.
Christ ransomed us from sin by shedding his blood for us on the cross. As Saint Ambrose, the saintly bishop of Milan, who brought Saint Augustine to the faith, says: “The amount of the ransom was not reckoned in terms of money but in terms of blood, for Christ died for us; he has set us free with his precious blood; precious because it is the blood of a spotless lamb, the blood of the Son of God, who has ransomed us not only from the curse of the Law, but also from that never-ending death which impiety implies” (Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, 7, 117).
Let us pray: “God of eternal compassion, each Easter you rekindled the faith of your consecrated people. Give them still greater grace, so that all may truly understand the waters in which they were cleansed, the Spirit by which they were reborn, the blood by which they were redeemed. We make our prayer through the Risen Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.”
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. You believed, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Alleluia.”
Gospel: John 20: 19-31.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Comment
How very beautiful are the readings the Church proposes to us during the Easter season as the Gospels continue to relate to us Christ’s appearances after his resurrection! And how very rich they are in lessons that we can take home and muse over throughout the day!
In today’s Gospel, the disciples are gathered in a locked room. The recent violence has made them very security conscious. They have become runaways from a society they fear is hostile, so they lock themselves in what they hope is a safe house. For all their defensiveness, however, they cannot keep out the pressing love of the Risen Lord. Jesus appears to them without any need for the doors to be opened, by using the qualities of his glorified body; but, to dispel any impression that he is only a spirit, he shows them his hands and his side: there is no longer any doubt about they are in the presence of their Lord and Master himself who has truly risen from the dead.
He appears to them not only in divine glory but also in human solidarity. He greets them twice using the words of greeting customary among the Jews: “Peace be with you”. These friendly words dispel the fear and the shame the Apostles must have been feeling at behaving so disloyally during his passion when they had abandoned him and fled or had, like Peter, denied him when he needed him most. He now recreates the normal atmosphere of intimacy, and breathes on them the Spirit that will give them powers to continue his mission on earth.
The Spirit that Jesus gives his apostles has been passed on to other people through the ministry of the church. Whenever and wherever the Spirit is present, sin is destroyed. Invested with the Spirit of Jesus, they mediate the word of Jesus to the world; and depending on man’s acceptance and conversion, it will be a word of forgiveness or condemnation.
The Church has always understood, and has in fact defined, that by telling his apostles to “receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven, and whose sins you retain, are retained,” Jesus Christ conferred the Sacrament of Penance, or Reconciliation, on them and on their lawful successors: the pope, bishops and priests. The Sacrament of Penance is the most sublime expression of God’s love and mercy towards men and women. The Lord always awaits us with open arms, as the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. He always waits for us to repent and then he forgives us and restores us to the dignity of being his sons and daughters once more.
Let me not conclude this reflection without touching on the actions of Thomas, or Didymus, the Twin, who is absent from Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples. A week later, Thomas makes the most explicit profession of faith in the risen Lord – “My Lord and my God.” To Saint Gregory the Great, Thomas’ absence was no mere accident. “God arranged that it should happen this way. His clemency acted in this wonderful way through the doubting disciple touching the wound in his Master’s body. In this way, our own wounds of unbelief might be healed. And so the disciple, doubting and touching, was changed into a witness of the truth of the resurrection.’
Christians use Thomas’ words “My Lord and My God” as an act of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Eucharist. Thomas’ doubting moves our Lord to give him special proof that his risen body is quite real. By so doing, he increases the faith of those who would later on find faith in him.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may come down upon us this day and increase our faith in the risen Lord so that we too may come to believe that he, and he alone, holds the words of eternal life. Let us pray with Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits): “My Lord and my God, I freely yield all my freedom to you. Take my memory, my intellect and my entire will. You have given me everything I am or have; I give it all back to you to stand under your will alone. Your love and your grace are enough for me; I shall ask for nothing more. I make this prayer through the Risen Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia!"
Comments