By Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today is the second Sunday of Easter – the Octave of Easter. It is also the day that we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday. The gospel narrates the appearance of Jesus to his disciples who were still grappling with the entire events of his death and resurrection. After the crucifixion and death of Jesus, his disciples were devastated; some of them scattered in the confusion that followed. Then came the news of his resurrection. They were still at a loss, especially given the manner the news of the resurrection was filtering in. The Jewish authorities that killed Jesus were still a big threat, and the resurrected Jesus was nowhere to be found. They felt harassed and intimidated, like sheep without a shepherd. All they could do was hide behind closed doors. On the one hand, they were afraid of the Jews that murdered their master. On the other hand, the guilt of having abandoned their master during his most difficult moment was in itself scaring.
In the midst of their confusion, doubt and fear, Jesus appeared to reassure them that he is indeed alive. How very awkward they must have felt as Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst. They must have been afraid too that the moment of reckoning has come; the moment of telling off and dressing down, not only for their cowardly behaviour but also for their lack of faith in him. But instead Jesus pronounced peace on them; they had been unsettled and needed that healing of their guilt and awkwardness. The risen Jesus shows his hands and his side lest they forget what they and the world did to him, but he did not follow with words of rebuke, only words of mercy. He goes further to empower them to become the agents of that healing mercy of God in the world; he breaths on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you retain, they are retained.
Jesus’ visit to His disciples was vital to restore their courage and faith, assure them of the veracity of His teachings about His death and resurrection and empower them for the task he was entrusting to them. Doubt and fear can be great obstacles to effective Christian living, limiting the power and courage to engage oneself in Christian witnessing, works of mercy and reaching out to those in need. Jesus’ aversion to doubt could be seen in His somewhat reprimanding words to Thomas who was absent during his first visit, and thereafter had difficulties believing the report of his fellow disciples regarding the appearance of Jesus to them. The Christian faith is obviously not resistant to rational reflection; on the contrary, living faith can only be founded on sound reasoning. But in spite of human reasoning being the starting point to the Christian faith, faith goes further than human reason. Taking human reasoning to be the utmost and the only yardstick for measuring facts leads to denial of whatever that eludes human conception; and there are many of such phenomena such as the resurrection of Jesus from the death. They transcends the sphere of human conception that operates with the attributes of space and time.
During this visit, Jesus greeted his disciples with peace before entrusting to them the specific tasks to forgive every sins. In doing so he opens wide the door to the Father’s boundless heart of love and Mercy. Divine Mercy is manifested in the forgiveness of sins as clearly evident in the events of today’s Gospel. Love, mercy and forgiveness naturally lead to peace. When we learn to love, it becomes easy to have mercy, to forgive and to experience lasting peace. It is only then that we can take the extra steps to reach out to others. Today, Jesus reassures us of his living presence with us and invites us to approach his throne of mercy, experience his love and forgiving heart (also in the confessional), and to become agents of love, mercy and forgiveness.
One can then understand why the celebration of the Divine Mercy has been placed on the Octave of Easter. During the 30th April 2000 (Sunday after Easter) canonization of the Polish nun, Sr. Faustina Kowalska who died in 1938, Pope John Paul II designated Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. Sr. Faustina was gifted with extraordinary visions and experiences of the Lord Jesus. The most famous of these was the Lord revealing his sacred heart from which came rays of light, red and white which she interpreted as the radiating forth of the Divine Mercy. Following the revelations Our Lord gave to Sr. Faustina, Jesus promised to grant forgiveness of all sins and punishment, even to the most hardened sinners who turn to ask for God’s mercy, especially on the Feast of Divine Mercy.
The message of the resurrected Jesus finds expression among his disciples in the signs and wonders that were being done through them among the people. The first reading reports that there is something that can be seen and verified in the Christian community born of faith in the risen Lord. It is the completely new kind of life that is being led in these communities that testifies that Jesus is alive and that he has sent his Spirit into the world. In the early times of the Church, Christians needed no identification badges because the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23) were evident in their lives and the communities they formed. Acts 4:32 described the interpersonal relationship among them as being united in “one heart and one soul”.
As we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday on this Second Sunday (Octave) of Easter, it is important to review to what extent we ourselves and our community mirror the merciful heart of Jesus: a heart of love, care and forgiveness. It is amazing to note that given the absence of Thomas during the first visit of Jesus to His disciples, Jesus had to repeat the visit to personally convince Thomas the he has indeed risen from the dead. That is in itself an invitation to imbibe the Good Shepherd’s attitude in reaching out to our brothers and sisters, even when they seem unwilling to cooperate. Jesus comes to us in a very special way during every Eucharistic celebration. We pray that as he comes today, he may find us -individually and collectively – as true agents of his love, mercy and forgiveness to the world around us.
As we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday on this Second Sunday (Octave) of Easter, it is important to review to what extent we ourselves and our community mirror the merciful heart of Jesus: a heart of love, care and forgiveness. It is amazing to note that given the absence of Thomas during the first visit of Jesus to His disciples, Jesus had to repeat the visit to personally convince Thomas the he has indeed risen from the dead. That is in itself an invitation to imbibe the Good Shepherd’s attitude in reaching out to our brothers and sisters, even when they seem unwilling to cooperate. Jesus comes to us in a very special way during every Eucharistic celebration. We pray that as he comes today, he may find us -individually and collectively – as true agents of his love, mercy and forgiveness to the world around us.
(Image source and caption: Wikipedia– The Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador City Misamis Oriental, Philippines.)