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 addition “They 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 addition “They 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?
