Homily - 2nd Sunday of Easter- Rev. Fr. Dr. Patrick Mathias SDB - 7 April 2024
Sunday 7 April
2024– II Sunday of Easter- Divine Mercy Sunday (year B)
Readings of the Mass: Act 4:32-35 Ps 117
1Jn 5:1-6 Jn 20:19-31
Key Verse to Meditate: Thomas
answered him, "My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20 :28).
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the
Risen Lord,
Today, we celebrate the eighth day of the Easter Octave, the second
Sunday of Easter, or the feast of Divine Mercy. The Liturgy of the Word offers
us a personal encounter with the risen Lord through the Apostle Thomas. Each
year, the second Sunday of Easter presents the same Gospel, though the first
two readings may vary. The Gospel reading serves as the culmination of the
Easter Octave, setting the scene eight days after the resurrection. St. Thomas,
rather than merely being known as the doubter, becomes the quintessential
example of faith. He did not deny or betray but sought proof regarding the
faith of those proclaiming Jesus' resurrection. Thus, Jesus appeared to him,
strengthening Thomas in his faith.
The First Reading: The First Reading explores two main themes.
Firstly, it depicts the quality of community life among the believers, likely
Jews converted through the preaching of the Apostles following the Pentecostal
event (Acts 2:1f). It is profoundly comforting to witness the believers united
in heart and soul, leading them to a lifestyle where they shared their
possessions with the Church and its members (Acts 4:32). This unity stemmed
from the apostles' Kerygmatic proclamation and their faith in the risen Lord,
which not only kept them together but also inspired others to follow and
undergo baptism. The Apostles boldly preached God's word and testified to the
resurrection of the Lord, as noted: "With great power, the apostles bore
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them
all" (Acts 4:33).
The Second Reading: The second
reading from the First Letter of John identifies Jesus as the one who came by
water and blood: "This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood"
(1Jn 5:6). During the Good Friday service, we meditated on the significance of
Blood and Water: After Jesus' death, when a soldier pierced His side, blood and
water flowed out: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and
at once blood and water came out" (Jn 19:34). This is a great mystery,
representing significant signs for us Christians. The water flowing from the Saviour's
side symbolizes Baptism, while the blood symbolizes the Eucharist. Together,
these two symbols represent the Church, signifying that the Church was born
from the side of the Saviour.
The Gospel Reading: A Doubting
Thomas? I don’t believe that St. Thomas deserves that title. He was not a
worse believer in the resurrection. He was no worse than the other disciples
who did not believe in the resurrection of the Lord at first. After receiving
peace from Jesus, Thomas saw His Wounds on His hands and side (Jn 20:20). Only
then, when they saw the Lord with His wounds, did they rejoice. Thus, it is
fitting that Thomas boldly challenged those who claimed they had seen the risen
Jesus: "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails and put my
finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not
believe" (Jn 20:25). Thomas was not wrong in desiring better proof of his
Master’s Resurrection than mere hearsay could provide. The phrase in Luke,
"my hands and my feet" (Lk 24:39-40), is the only Biblical evidence
for the belief that the Lord’s feet were also nailed to the Cross.
Though John acknowledges that only Jesus showed them His hands and
His side, Luke goes further and says that He invited the disciples to touch Him
(Lk 24:39). Despite the invitation, including Thomas, neither John nor Luke
state that the disciples dared to touch the risen Lord. The other disciples did
not believe in Jesus until they saw Him. Therefore, Thomas’ desire cannot be
labelled as doubting. A week later, when Jesus appeared again, what He said to
Thomas applies to all believers: "Have you believed because you have seen
me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (Jn
20:29). Just like Thomas, they too believed only when they saw the Lord, His
wounds, and not when Mary Magdalene told them she had seen the Lord. They were
not excluded from the list of unbelievers.
Certainly, the confession of Thomas goes far beyond the confession
of Nathanael (Jn 1:49). We have not seen Jesus, yet we believe in Him. But how
strong is our faith in the Lord? Let us follow the good example of St. Thomas
in proclaiming the risen Saviour as "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28).
It is through the gift of faith that we recognize the Risen Lord and receive
new life.
The Role of the Faith Community: Another aspect
we notice here is that when Jesus came to visit the other disciples, the
scripture says that he was not at home. John starts with his favourite phrase,
“on that day,” to mark the special emphasis of Jesus’ encounter with his
apostles (see Jn 1:39, 5:9, 11:53, 14:20, 16:23, 26). Where did he go? We don’t
find a clue in the gospel. Only when he re-joins the community does the risen
Saviour appear to him too. The faith community plays an important role in the
proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus. It is within the faith community
that one encounters the risen Lord, through the breaking of the bread and the
sharing of the word. This is what we see in the first Jerusalem Christian
community, which, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, was of one mind and
one heart. The faith community of apostles proclaimed with great authority the
mystery of the resurrection: "With great power the apostles gave their
testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them
all" (Acts 4:33).
The Power to Forgive Sins: Before meeting
the doubting Thomas, the risen Lord breathed on the apostles and instituted the
sacrament of reconciliation, giving them the power to forgive the sins of the
people: Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"
(Jn 20:21-23). This commissioning act of Jesus after the resurrection reminds
us of how God breathed life into Adam in the book of Genesis (Gen 2:7).
Similarly, here, Jesus breathes on the fearful disciples the gift of His
Spirit: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is this Spirit that would empower them to
be powerful preachers of the resurrection of Jesus.
The Pentecost Day: Only Luke
would attribute the outpouring of the promised Spirit to the day of Pentecost,
when the disciples would be anointed with the descending of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:1f). That’s why, after the Pentecost event, and after healing the lame
man, when the elders and chief priests questioned him about the source of the
power behind the healing of the person, the writer of Acts stated that Peter,
being filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed everyone, proclaiming the mystery
of the resurrection: "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to
them, 'Rulers of the people and elders'" (Acts 4:8). Only those who
receive the Holy Spirit experience the presence of the risen Lord, just like
the apostles.
The Peace of the Risen Christ: Peace is the
greatest gift of the risen Lord to the disciples and to every one of us. When
Jesus appeared for the first time after the resurrection, he greeted the
fear-filled disciples with soothing words: "Peace be with you" (Jn
20:19. 21). It was after sharing peace that Jesus sent the apostles on a
mission. Now, after the eighth day of the first appearance, we can say, on the
Easter octave day when he appeared once again to the disciples, he greeted them
with peace: "Peace be with you" (Jn 20:26). After greeting them with
peace, he invited Thomas to believe in him: "Put your finger here and see
my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but
believe" (Jn 20:27).
Other than the Gospel of John, only in Luke do we find the phrase
"peace be with you" as the Emmaus disciples return and narrate their
experience of the risen Lord to the others (Lk 24:36). It appears, therefore,
from Luke 24:36 that the two Emmaus disciples were present, as well as the
apostles, and probably some others also
(Lk 24:33).
Going through the Old Testament, we find that the prophets called
the Messiah the "prince of peace" (Is 9:5). Prophet Isaiah also
affirmed that an endless peace would characterize his reign (Is 9:6; 11:6).
Coming to the New Testament, we find that on the occasion of Christ's birth, the
angels of heaven proclaimed peace on earth to men of goodwill (Lk 2:14). In the
Gospel of John, after washing the feet of the disciples (Chapter 13), in the
following chapter, Jesus not only promised the disciples the Holy Spirit but
also the gift of his peace much before the resurrection: "Peace I leave
you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives it" (Jn 14:27).
The Gift of Peace: Jesus always
desired to bring peace to the people of Jerusalem. However, they did not
welcome the Word of God made flesh. On the Mount of Olives, contemplating the
majesty of Jerusalem, Jesus, with tears in His eyes and a heavy heart, rebuked
His people: "If you had only recognized on this day the things that make
for peace!" (Lk 19:42). Peace is the gift brought by the Redeemer. He
procured this gift for us through His suffering, sacrifice, death, and
resurrection. St. Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians that Jesus is our
peace, the bond of unity: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far
off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace,
who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of
hostility" (Eph 2:13-14). St. Paul continues to affirm that the peace of
Christ surpasses the world’s understanding of peace: "And the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:7). That’s why during the Eucharistic
celebration, we share the gift of peace with one another. Unless the peace of
the risen Christ fills our lives, we cannot become channels of peace.
Jesus breathed upon Them: Jesus knew
very well that it is the Spirit of God that removes every fear and fills the
person with His strength and power. The power and anointing of the Holy Spirit
made the frightened apostles the real carriers of the Good News. That’s why
Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit"
(Jn 20:22). The reception of the Holy Spirit also gave them the power to
forgive sins: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if
you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:23). This act of
breathing on the apostles tells us that in the Fourth Gospel, the Spirit is not
only promised but given, not on Pentecost (as with Luke) but on the day of the
Resurrection.
The first man came into being because God “breathed” into Adam’s
nostrils the breath of life (Gen 2:7). So too, the gift of spiritual life to
the apostles was imparted by the “breath” of Christ (1 Cor 15:45). In the
valley of dry bones episode, we see God commanding the breath to breathe upon
the dry bones so that they become alive; this command is addressed to the
life-giving Spirit (Ezek 37:9).
As Christ did with the apostles, so the bishop, laying his hands on
the priests who are ordained, today transmits the power of the Holy Spirit,
allowing them to dispense the sacraments and, through them, to absolve sins.
Each sacrament not only evokes the memory of Christ but is Christ himself, who
acts immediately to save man. In dispensing the sacraments, the Church, in a
certain sense, places herself at the foot of the cross to bring salvation to
believers.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation: This is very
important from the sacramental aspect: "If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"
(Jn 20:23). It is the parting commission of Jesus to the apostles, to whom He
had previously promised the Holy Spirit and to whom He had now imparted that
Divine gift. It was in the power of the Spirit of God that they were authorized
not only to proclaim universally the message of God’s forgiveness (Acts 10:43)
but also to say in individual cases, “Your sins are forgiven.” Thus, the
command of Jesus to forgive the sins of the people was given only after He had
given them the gift of the Spirit. It is God’s Spirit who forgives and heals
everyone.
In the Synoptists, Jesus declared to some individuals that their
sins are forgiven (Mk 2:5; Lk 7:48): "The Son of Man has power to forgive
sins on earth" (Mk 2:10). But here in John 20:23, Jesus seemingly commits
to those to whom He had imparted His Spirit the authority to use similar words
in forgiving their sins. Now, through the apostles of Christ, God’s assurance
of forgiveness can always be given confidently to repentant sinners in Jesus’
name.
The feast of the Divine Mercy: This act of
instituting the sacrament of reconciliation also leads us to look into the
feast of the Divine Mercy. Pope St. John Paul II instituted this feast on 30th
April 2000, as he canonized Sr. Faustina Kowalska from Poland and exhorted the
Church to celebrate this feast always on the second Sunday of Easter, so that
the faithful can contemplate on the divine mercy of God.
Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on
me: We
need to pray to God sincerely with the prayer of the humble publican who went
into the temple to pray: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:10-14). In
the gospel, we have various episodes in which the people who asked for mercy
from Christ were never turned back. For example, the blind Bartimaeus received
back his sight when he shouted, “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me” (Mk
10:48; Mt 9:27; 20:31; Lk 18:38). When we confess like the prodigal son, we can
be sure to receive pardon and experience the love of God the Father: 'Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called
your son' (Lk 15:21). Even the ten lepers were cleansed when they begged Jesus:
“Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us” (Lk 17:13). Even the Canaanite woman’s
daughter was freed instantly when she prayed for the mercy of Jesus: “Lord, Son
of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil” (Mat 15:22).
This is what we sing popularly in our Churches during the penitential rite
singing the Greek text, ‘Kyrie Eleison’.
Points for Personal Reflection: The risen
Christ is inviting you and me to trust him and to experience divine mercy. The
compassion of God is never lacking for any of us sinners. When the repentant
thief asked for Jesus’ compassion, he was promised paradise. "Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Lk 23:43). May the Mercy of
Christ be our hope in times of trials and temptation. God’s mercy and
compassion are always available for the penitent sinner who approaches the
throne of the mercy of faith with faith and trust. Do I have strong faith like
that of St. Thomas? How deep is my faith in the risen Lord? Do we long for the
peace of Christ in our lives that surpasses every human knowledge? Do I trust
and believe in the compassionate mercy of God in the Sacrament of confession?
My God and my Lord- Is it also my confession of faith?
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