II SUNDAY OF EASTER
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
Pope Saint John Paul II asked the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments to call the Second Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday, and it has been called that since the year 2000. However, we will see liturgically that a strong character for this Sunday is Saint Thomas the Apostle, and his popular phrase: “until I see, I will not believe”.
St. Luke, to whom is to credited the book of Acts of the Apostles, shows us, in a few words, the life of the first community. He proposes, in that text that we heard this Sunday (Acts 2: 42-47), an ideal that must be the model of the Church. Also from this text we can learn the four things that helped the first community of believers persevere: in accepting the teaching of the apostles, in koinonia, in the breaking of bread and in prayer.
I want to clarify a specific point of koinonia: solidarity. “They would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.” (Acts 2: 45) We can’t say that St. Luke was thinking of economic equality; that is not the approach. But I can say, solidarity as a result of communion and the renunciation of some possessions in favor of the poor.
The part of the Gospel of St. John that we hear this Sunday is very simple to explain, but very rich in content. The two occasions that Jesus appears, He greeted his disciples with the desire of peace: “Peace be with you” (John 20: 19c, 21a, 26c). The apparitions were a new encounter of the risen Jesus that we can’t understand as a return to this life. The signs of the doors closed for fear of the Jews and how Jesus crossed it, make us think and help us to understand that it was a glorious and spiritualized body. The meeting of Mary Magdalene with the gardener, the moment of the disciples of Emmaus walking with a stranger, the miraculous catch after working all night, are evidence that it was Jesus himself, but not the same physical appearance.
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22) The “breath” upon the disciples recalls biblical actions that speak of the new creation, the new life, through the Spirit, very similar to Gen 2: 7. The Spirit of the Risen Lord initiates a new world, and with the sending of His disciples to the mission, inaugurates a new people of Israel who believes in Christ and are witnesses to the truth of the resurrection, despite the contradictions that they find in fulfilling this mission.
The figure of St. Thomas, who does not trust the words of his brothers, wants to believe from himself, from his possibilities, from his very weakness. Again, God is not going to fail; Jesus Christ, the Risen One, is going to show himself as Thomas wants: “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.” (Jn 20:27) And it was faced with that experience of a different life of Jesus, but real life, is when Thomas feels called to believe as his brothers. Saying “my Lord and my God,” is to accept that faith ceases to be personal and became communal, rooted in trust of the community. In that way he experiences that Jesus is God, a God of life and not God of death. With that proof we can also shout out: God is not dead, God is alive, and in Him I believe, and He will never let me down.
“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained,” (John 20:23) the forgiveness of sins is the sign of divine mercy. In a material world where it would seem that the one who has the most possessions is loved more. Today, we Christians, celebrate the opposite: the celebration of gratuitousness, of mercy, of giving without expecting anything in return. Because that is the resurrection. The Resurrection is an act of mercy of God, who has freely given the most that can be given to a human being: not only the forgiveness of sins and thus overcoming death, but also giving us the hope of reaching the fullness of life.
Today may we be able to say with St. Thomas, “I believe, Lord, but increase my faith”. Help me, Lord, to show my love and solidarity with my brothers in need. May our faith impel us to follow the example of the first Christian community.