Saturday, April 7, 2018

Dipping our Hands into the Wounds of Christ!


Homily 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
·         Acts 2:42-47;
·         Ps 118:2-4,13-15,22-24;
·         1 Pet 1:3-9 (A);
·          Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6 (B);
·         Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13,17-19 (C)
·         John 20:19-31(ABC)
Christ: Conduit of Divine Mercy!
Today the Church celebrates “Divine Mercy Sunday” commemorating Jesus’ revelations to Saint Faustina on the Divine Mercy. Pope John Paul II granted this Feast to the Universal Church on the occasion of his raising Sr. Faustina, a young Polish woman to Sainthood on April 30, 2000 and was decreed to be celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of Easter. 
It is a teaching Sunday that invites us to embrace Christ’s enthronement on the Cross, his Resurrection and his multiple appearances to his seemingly disillusioned and doubting disciples  as nothing, but acts of love and divine mercy towards us. It was God’s mercy towards humanity that led Christ, his Son to the Cross. A saving Cross culminating in the event of the resurrection.
Peter in the Second reading, particularly of Year A recognizes this when he says: “Blessed be the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3-9).
His resurrection is our hope as it were for the early disciples after the events of Palm Sunday and Good Friday. His resurrection proves that he accompanies us on our journeys, with mercy and love. I am sure we still recall the other day, in Luke Chapter 24: 13-35, at Emmaus, when Jesus walked besides Cleopas and his friend on their return from Jerusalem, clouded in sad conversation they did not recognized Jesus until the Risen Christ spent time breaking bread with them. Besides, accompanying, walking with his disciples, or breaking bread with them, he ate baked fish with them (Lk 24:35-48) during other appearances. He also gave them encouraging instruction by the beach at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-14)
In today’s Gospel (John 20:19-31), the Risen Lord appears to the restless and frightened disciples with blessings of Peace (Shalom)! He accompanies them!  He breathes on them and commissions them on a preaching mission with the power to forgive sins, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jon 20:23).
With this command, Christ inaugurates, in a way, Divine Mercy Sunday, so to say. He encourages, each of us, his disciples to be merciful to one another, in our homes, families and communities. He encourages us to appreciate the gift of the sacrament of reconciliation in the Church.
Besides encouraging us to be "masters of divine mercy", Christ invites us like Thomas to stop doubting; to be believers. Christ invites us today to touch his wounds (John 20:19-31); wounds that  would heal Thomas’ wounds of disbelief and faithlessness; wounds that replaces lack of peace with Peace of Christ; wounds that replaces the spirit of darkness with God’s Spirit of Light. Christ’s wounds, a catalyst for testimony of the healing truth, courage, unlimited mercy and inexhaustible love of Christ.  Christ’s wounds expels the power of injustice and heals the wounds corruption and of indiscriminate shootings in our communities. It is this wounds that Thomas touches in today’s Gospel. The wounds of love, unity; wounds that would empower communion, the sharing (konoinia) and the preaching of the early Christian Community of today’s 2nd reading.
 In Acts of the Apostles “All who believed were together… (as we are today in this church) they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life (Konoinia), breaking of bread and praying together….” (Acts 2:42-47, Year A).  In additionThey were of one heart and mind and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common…they bore witness to the Resurrection of Christ…” (Acts 4:32-35 Year B).
 There are moments in our lives we are not acting mercifully towards our neighbors. Like Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Cleopas, and the Eleven Disciples, we also do have moments of doubt. We do have moments of uncertainties, confusions, disbelief, hopelessness, selfishness and frustrations. 
In those moments, Christ ways of mercy, love, hope and faith should be our hope and our ways.  In the Eucharist we celebrate, may see the merciful face Christ. May his face of mercy and peace reflect on how we daily peacefully treat and accompany our neighbors on our pilgrimage journeys of faith, love and mercy!
Refection Questions:
1.      If God is merciful onto us how often do we share his Divine Mercy and Love with one another?
2.      If not so often what prevents us from doing so?
3.      And how do we encourage members of our faith communities to see the act of Divine Mercy in the paschal mysteries of the Christ of Easter?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Homily Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy) ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
·         Acts 2:42-47;
·          Ps 118:2-4,13-15,22-24;
·          1 Pet 1:3-9 (A);
·         Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6 (B);
·         Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13,17-19 (C)
·         John 20:19-31(ABC)
 Dipping our Hands into the Wounds of Christ!
From Easter Sunday to Pentecost the Church celebrates those fifty days that the Risen Jesus goes around by his appearances strengthening the faith of his “seemingly” disillusioned disciples over the events of the victory of the Cross; that supernatural event beyond the powers of Anna, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin and Pilate other opponents of Jesus. Even it took a while, for friends of Christ, his mother, Mary Magdalene, his disciples, the apostles, especially Thomas, being human like any of us to come to  terms with the mystery of the Resurrection (John 20:24-29). He needed to deep his hands into the wounds of our Savior wounds; the wounds of peace and assurances!
They needed the power of Christ’s Peace (love, reassurance, well-being, okeyness) to calm their fears and be strengthened in the supernatural gifts of faith and fortitude by the Holy Spirit, wherever they were hiding for fear of persecution. You would recall that in Luke’s Gospel 24: 13-35, at Emmaus, when Jesus walked besides Cleopas and his friend on their return from Jerusalem, clouded in sad conversation they did not recognized Jesus until the Risen Christ spent time breaking bread with them. Besides, walking with his disciples, or breaking bread with them in other appearances, he ate baked fish with them (in Lk 24:35-48). He also gave them encouraging instruction by the beach at the Sea of Tiberias (in John 21:1-14).
In today’s Gospel, John 20:19-31, the Risen Lord invites the Doubting Thomas to touch his wounds. These wounds would heal Thomas’ wounds of doubts, disbelief and faithlessness; wounds that replaces lack of peace with Peace of Christ; wounds that replaces the spirit of darkness with God’s Spirit of Light. Thomas touches wounds of testimony to the healing truth, courage, unlimited mercy and inexhaustible love of Christ.  He touches wounds of love, unity; wounds that would empower communion and the sharing and the preaching of the early Christian Community of today’s 2nd reading.
  In today’s 2nd readings, Acts of the Apostles “All who believed were together… (as we are today in this church) they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life (Konoinia), breaking of bread and praying together….” (Acts 2:42-47, Year A).  In additionThey were of one heart and mind and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common…they bore witness to the Resurrection of Christ…” (Acts 4:32-35 Year B).
Our world and society today is broken or wounded with war and threats of war. We are wounded by nuclear threats, and religious extremism. We are also wounded daily by all forms violence and abuse of guns and shootings, in our schools, homes, streets and public places! We are wounded with rifts in our families, poverty and lack of consideration for the lowly, especially by the upper class of our political elites.
 Like Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Cleopas, and the Eleven Disciples we all do have moments of doubt, uncertainties, confusions, disbelief, hopelessness and frustrations.  But the good news is that those moments of wounds can only be healed and soothed by our embrace of the meaning of the wounds of Christ! Or when we respond like Thomas dipping our hands and our daily activities and challenges into the wounds of Jesus, saying, My Lord and my God!
 
Reflection Questions:
1.      1 If God is merciful onto us how often do we share his Divine Mercy and Love with one another?
2.      If not so often what prevents us from doing so?
3.      And how do we encourage members of our faith communities to see the act of Divine Mercy in the paschal mysteries of the Christ of Easter?
4.      What does Thomas’ dipping of  his finger into the wounds of Christ and proclaiming My Lord and My God, say to you?