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Homily for Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

READ: (Acts 4: 32-35; 1 Jn 5: 1-6; Jn 20: 19-31)

REFLECT: The flow of God’s mercy is abundant and limitless…

Dear friends, we are in the second Sunday of Easter, which is also called as Divine Mercy Sunday. We all know that mercy is both feeling compassion and acting upon it. Mercy is one of the most evocative attributes of God. Pope Francis says, “Mercy is the first attribute of God.” God “does not want anyone to be lost. His mercy is infinitely greater than our sins,” Yes, God’s mercy encompasses all God’s benevolent act towards his creatures, who are weak and vulnerable and his creatures are in need of forgiveness. So we have a God who is merciful and compassionate to each one of us in every way. The most supreme act of compassion of God over us is seen in God by giving us his son Jesus for the redemption of human race.

Today Holy mother the Church commemorates Divine Mercy Sunday. Looking back at the history, we note that On the Second Sunday of Easter of the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass for the Canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, Pope John Paul II declared the Sunday after Easter be called “Divine Mercy Sunday.” St. Faustina was a Polish nun who received visions from Jesus. In which Jesus said to her, I want the Image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it… My daughter, tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy.

Divine Mercy Sunday focuses on the gift of mercy and love given through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. As Pope John Paul II stated, “Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified.” Yes, the mercy of Christ is manifested to us in the heart of Christ crucified. The heart of Jesus is full of mercy and love. Jesus wants that divine love and mercy be shared with everyone who deserves as sinners and those in sinfulness and shameful state of life. Therefore, mercy is the flow of grace and goodness in abundance. So with these few introductory and historical notes, based on the readings I would like to share with you three points of reflection.

1.     Disciples of Jesus as the door of mercy:

God shows his merciful love through various persons, places and times. The purpose of God is to reach out to his people the merciful and bountiful love that he has for us, his people. Therefore, he chose apostles and wished to share his power and grace in and through them. That’s what we see from the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, that there was a feeling of oneness and togetherness created among people, because of the powerful testimony and witness brought about by the apostles about Jesus’ resurrection. That’s what we read too, “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” So we see the grace and mercy of God working in and through his apostles to bring together as one family, creating a bond among all and becoming a source of blessing from God.

So every disciple of Jesus is called to give the mercy of God and to express the act the mercy to people in and around us. The mercy of God may be expressed in words that we speak and deeds that we do. Exhibiting and expressing all that can lead one another to the merciful love of God is the call of us Christians. Today, we are the Disciples of Christ, as we are the follower of Christ. If we are Disciples of Christ, we are called to be like Jesus, our Master. Jesus was complete resemblance and reflection of the Father in grace and mercy. Jesus manifested to us the face of the Father by his words and deed. Let us realize that we all can become the door of God’s mercy when we make God as our longing and belonging, not the goods and commodities of the world. When materialism and money takes over our lives, we end up losing our bond and friendship with God. let us learn from early Christian in the Acts of the Apostles that we may long and belong to the Lord and not to the longings and belongings of the world. So let us become the door of mercy which brings oneness, union, healing and grace to one another in a broken and divided world by various destructive powers.

2.     Assurance of God’s mercy in Jesus:

God has assured us of his presence in Jesus and his mercy as well through him. We see in the New Testament, there are many occasion where in Jesus was so compassionate and merciful to the people, he felt pity for people who were like a sheep without a shepherd, he  felt pity for people who did not have anything to eat, he even felt pity for sinners, lepers, lame, deaf and blind. He assured them God’s compassion by granting healing and strength. That shows how compassionate and merciful Jesus was and his mercy reaches to everyone regardless of color, caste, clan and group. That’s what we see from the second reading from First letter of St. John. He very beautifully asks a question, who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Testimony concerning the Son of God: This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Yes, the one who believes Jesus as the Son of God would find victory over all that is worldly and wicked.

Further, the testimony about Jesus is true, because Jesus by Baptism (water) and an eternal offering by shedding of his blood (death) for our salvation have won for us the victory over the sin and death. This is the great act of God’s mercy and grace over us manifested through Jesus Christ. Jesus by overpowering sin and death has proved his supremacy over sin and death. Today, God assures of his mercy in and through his Son Jesus to all those who seek for or seek after Jesus. The door of mercy is always assured and opened to the one who knocks and believes. So let us knock at the door of mercy to obtain God’s mercy and open the door of our hearts to manifest the mercy of God and Christ to one another in the world. What becomes a hurdle to manifest God’s assurance of mercy to other is our unbelief, our inability and disinterested nature to welcome God’s mercy for us and at the same time not showing the willingness and readiness to freely manifest God’s mercy to others. So believing in Jesus as the Son of God is the surer way of being assured of God’s mercies upon us, because when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we accept God as our Father, who sent his Son for our salvation. But our tendency to believe in money, materialistic outfits or outlook, human minds and worldly values hinder us to obtain the assurance of God’s mercy over us.

Today, we need to realize that the people may need money definitely but more than money what people are in dire need of is mercy and forgiveness, love and compassion. God has freely bestowed on us his mercy and compassion, through the life, suffering and death of Christ. It is our time now to see the possibility of Christ being bestowed to the world though our life. Today in what way can we assure of God’s mercy to another?  The Second reading from St. John’s first letter very aptly indicates, “Everyone who loves is born of God. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”  Yes, love for God and love for one another is an assurance of God’s mercy to others. Let us not be indignant or hateful to others by our words and deeds rather let us love and be sure of God’s grace upon us and our families. The message of Divine mercy Sunday for each one of us is, “God still loves the world, loves us all.” The life that we live now is the pure mercy and blessing of God. God gives us assurance of his love for us, but can we give assurance of our love for God. Let us realize that the assurance of God keeps our life moving towards green pasture; the assurance of God gives us joy and peace to the broken humanity. So let us pray for the assurance of God’s mercy upon us.

3.     Jesus himself is mercy and merciful:

Pope Francis very beautifully says, “The name of God is mercy. There are no situations we cannot get out of; we are not condemned to sink into quicksand.” That’s what we see in the Gospel reading of the day. The reflection of God’s mercy is Jesus for Jesus is mercy himself. There are three different scriptural statements we hear from today’s Gospel reading;

The first statement is “Peace be with you.” The risen Christ gives peace to the disciples who were in fear of Jews. They were in fear because if Jesus our master and leader has to undergo such an affliction and what would be us his followers. So they were in fear of Jews and were in fear for their future as what would happen. In the midst of this confused and fearful state, Jesus appears and gives them peace to the disturbed minds and hearts. Jesus knew what his disciples were in need of, therefore he gives them peace to calm down and believe in Jesus. Similarly whenever we are in fear and confusion, God whispers the words ‘peace be with you,’ to give us peace to calm down and take hold of Jesus for healing and strength. Perhaps, the peace of Christ is another form of mercy we receive from God through Jesus. The mercy of God is given to those who have lost peace of mind. Jesus gives us peace as a sign of his love and mercy. So let us seek and find the peace of Christ within ourselves and give peace to others.

The second statement is “Receive the spirit and whosoever sins you forgive will be forgiven and whosoever sins you retain will be retained.” The risen Christ gives his spirit to his followers to signify that the spirit will give courage, strength and grace to go through every hard process of life and give victory over their sufferings and shame like Jesus who endured the same. The spirit who activated, animated, inspired, accompanied, strengthened and raised Jesus from the dead is given now to the disciples for the same act of deliverance and overcoming all that is evil. So Jesus too gives us his spirit to strengthen us in our sorrows and strife to give us courage and strength to remain in the Lord; Jesus gives them the spirit to revive and renew their life to continue bearing witness to the Gospel and to Christ himself. So let us receive the spirit and renew our lives in God to be worthy and joyful witnesses of Christ in the world.

The third statement is “My Lord and my God.”  This is the famous statement of Thomas, who was not with the group when Jesus appeared and so he desires to see Jesus, his scars, he wishes even to see the nailed parts of Jesus and put his fingers into the mark of Jesus’ speared body. Most of the times we consider Thomas as doubting Thomas or as one who did not have faith in Jesus and his resurrection. But such a powerful statement containing a deep experience of God and acceptance of Jesus would not come if he were not to believe in Jesus. I feel perhaps he wanted to see Jesus at least If possible. We know what happened, he utters the most important titles attributed to Jesus My Lord and My God. By uttering this statement, Thomas accepts Jesus as the king and creator of the universe, it is in Jesus all things exist and all things come. It is an acknowledgement of faith and total surrender in God. This is what we are called to do, accepting Jesus as Lord and God, Jesus as sole master of our lives, Jesus has control of our every move we make, and Jesus can do anything to us. What we need to do is to accept Jesus as Lord and God and rely on the power of Jesus Christ.

So we see in the gospel reading of the day that Jesus gives his merciful love and favor to the disciples who were disturbed in the upper room; Jesus gives his spirit to the disciples who were in fear to be strengthened by the power of Holy spirit and Jesus shows mercy to Thomas to make him accept and acknowledge that Jesus as Lord and God. There are times in our lives too we utter these words when we are in despair and obtain hope ‘O Lord my God.’ Jesus shows mercy and compassion to Thomas and makes him stronger in faith. Similarly, we shall pray that Jesus may increase our faith and make our faith steady and stronger.

Yes, the mercy of God is manifested to us largely in and through Jesus. Each and every minute of our lives, the mercy of God flows in us and is poured out for us. But we don’t realize. The lack of our realization of God’s mercy in life is the consequence of misery in life. Above all, it is in time of misery we cry out ‘O lord my God,’ making the manifestation of our acceptance that the situations, conditions are out of control and therefore we surrender and submit, seeking God’s mercy and his merciful face. So let us pray that the flow of God’s mercy becomes abundant and abounding; let us feel it and share it with one another. Let it flow through us, the mercy of God. May the merciful God bless us with his mercy and compassion.

RESPOND:

Do we realize that as Christians we are called to be Disciples of Jesus as the door of mercy?

Do we believe in Jesus as the Son of God and love God and one another for an assurance of God’s mercy on us?

Do we realize and experience that Jesus himself is mercy and merciful and so become instruments of communicating and manifesting God’s mercy to one another in our lives?

Let us become the door of mercy, obtain the assurance of God’s mercy on us and manifest the merciful face of God, through the teachings and example of Christ in our lives. Amen.

 God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968