Divine Mercy Sunday, Year A
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
During the Easter season, the Acts of the Apostles supplies the first reading. We see the growth of the community that first gathered in Jerusalem. We hear the proclamation of Jesus’ disciples who have been transformed by the Spirit.
Observing how the Apostles and the other disciples have become bold proclaimers of the Gospel, willing to embrace suffering and even to face death, we see that their encounters with the risen Lord have made them confident in the truth they share.
This Second Sunday of Easter presents the pattern of Christian life that endures to the present day: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.”
The teaching of the Apostles comes to us through the New Testament and through the living Magisterium, the teaching authority that guides our response to the culture of our times. The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers a compendium of teaching and serves as a model for learning the faith.
The witness and writings of the popes and other Church leaders of our day offer a “commentary” on the world in which we live and provide light that flows from the Gospel.
Communal life is the expression of the unity that flows from the Spirit, giving each one charisms and gifts to build up the Church. The breaking of the bread is the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian life. The prayers are the prayers of Jesus and His disciples, following and building on the tradition of prayer that comes from our Jewish heritage.
In particular, the praying of the Psalms at certain times of the day, at gatherings of the community in homes and in sacred places – for the disciples in Jerusalem, at first the Temple, where Jesus Himself had taught.
The common life of the Spirit, where all that is received by each is shared with all, is the model presented by Acts 2 as the ideal form of Christian community.
The Resurrection appearances presented in John 20 include the story of Thomas, who, by his absence and then by his witness to the fact that Jesus is truly risen, offer an enduring help to our faith.
Jesus meets Thomas where he is, unconvinced that Resurrection is possible. Seeing that it is really Jesus, the One who was crucified, Who now stands before him, Thomas goes beyond what he sees to the deepest reality.
“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.’”
We can put our trust in those who first encountered the risen Lord. They received the breath of the Spirit when Jesus came to them, and He empowered them to continue to live in His Presence through the sacraments.
The sacrament of reconciliation was formally “instituted” on the evening of Easter when Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
It was given an expression in the personal renewal of Thomas by the Lord, and Thomas saw what we continue to see in the sacraments, the power of the One Who is Lord and God to share divine life with us.
John tells us the reason for writing about the signs we will be hearing about throughout the Easter season: “These are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”
We are sent on the same mission as these first followers of “The Way.” We are to proclaim what we have experienced and to share the very life of Jesus. We do so by our commitment to the teachings of the Church, to the sacramental and communal life that is the Church alive today and to the prayers that sanctify all time.
Let us put our trust in Jesus and His promise to bring salvation to us and to the whole world.