Divine Mercy Sunday

 

My dear parishioners,

God Is Good!!! All the Time!!! And All the Time!!! God Is Good!!!

A group of nearly three thousand among those who heard Peter’s Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:14-36) were moved by God’s grace to accept Baptism. This reading gives an overview of the character of this new community of believers.

This Sunday’s Gospel narrates an appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples and the commissioning of them through the Holy Spirit. Added to this is another appearance of the risen Lord to Thomas who was not present when Jesus made his first appearance.

The appearance to the disciples. Jesus’ disciples locked themselves away after his crucifixion fearing that what had happened to him would happen to them. Suddenly he is standing in their midst in the form of the risen Lord proclaiming peace to them. No doubt they were shocked and skeptical. It is only when he shows them his hands and his side that they rejoice. They are now able to comprehend the continuity between this risen Lord and the earthly Jesus of Nazareth. Now they can accept his gift of peace which he repeats to them.

The commissioning with the Holy Spirit. Once the disciples recognize the risen Lord, he immediately tells them that just as the Father had sent him, so he will send them. What he is sending the disciples to do is to continue his work of revealing to the world the presence and reality of the Father. This commissioning is confirmed by breathing the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, a second divine creation often referred to as the Johannine Pentecost.

Thomas was not with the other disciples when the risen Lord first appeared to them. When they told him that they had seen the Lord, his response was that he will not believe until he has seen the nails in Jesus’ hand and touched them along with his side. Many interpret that as doubt, thus his age-old designation as “doubting Thomas.” However, Thomas is only requesting the same evidence that the other disciples required before they believed. A week later, Thomas gets his opportunity when the risen Lord appears to him just as he did to the others. He offers himself to Thomas who immediately responds in faith with the confession, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas touches nothing. He is a model of faith. Neither the Johannine Christians nor we have the same opportunity granted the disciples. Still we are not at a disadvantage. We see the risen Lord through the eyes of faith

 

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius