He is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia! But before you start packing up the Easter decorations you need to understand that the party is just getting started. Easter is not just one day but an entire Liturgical season. Just as we spent 40 days in the desert with the season of Lent, we mirror that same 40 days in the light of Easter, reveling in the joy of the risen Lord until his Ascension to Heaven. But wait there’s more! We then spend 10 more days in the Easter season waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. During Lent we reflected on the story of our salvation. Now at Easter we reflect on how we became a Church.
The Word for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy)
Acts 4:32-35
Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
Since our focus during Easter is on the beginnings of the Church, our first reading will be coming from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, that wonderful sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Our passage for this Sunday gives us a picture of what life was like in the very early days of the Church, living together in community while the Apostles continued to witness to Jesus’ resurrection. This form of communal living was not unheard of for this time-period, but it does show us two distinct reasons why the early Christians lived this way. First, it allowed for a communal use of resources. Second was for mutual protection. Many early Christians were exiled from their families and communities (Jewish and otherwise) for following this new faith tradition. Their beliefs and way of living often made them the target of choice for the simple fact that they were “different” from everyone else. This “difference” comes from their whole-hearted belief in the sentiment of our Psalm, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his love is everlasting.”
Our second reading for this Sunday (and for most of the Sundays this Easter) comes from the 1st letter of John. Most scholars attributing this letter to the author of John’s Gospel. Though an earlier work, you can see the beginnings of the style he employed in his Gospel, a style that requires a slow and prayerful reading because no word is wasted, and each line drips with deep meaning that requires thoughtful consideration to put it into context. This week’s message is a reminder to follow God’s commandments, which for those who believe, are not burdensome. It reflects Mosaic Law and tradition, while wrapping it in the cloak of the Holy Trinity.
Our Gospel, like most of our Gospels from this Easter Cycle, is also from John. Though this Sunday’s passage is often referred to as John’s “Pentecost moment,” our focus this week is really on the Apostle Thomas, whom history has dubbed rather unkindly as “doubting Thomas.” The story has a most unique way of engaging our own belief because Thomas, like John’s audience and like us today, were not witnesses to Jesus’ first appearance in that upper room. Here Thomas represents us, with the same questions and same doubts we all have. Interestingly, however, we tend to side against Thomas as we read the story because of his apparent lack of faith, as if to say, “how can you not believe?” This paradox is intentional because it mirrors not only our faith experience (we believe yet still can suffer doubts), but the very advocacy Jesus and the Spirit can offer to the Father (because he was one of us, who best to speak on our behalf).
Final Thoughts:
One of the beautiful things about our church is how we can see aspects of ourselves in the Apostles and many of the saints. For me, Thomas is one of those people. In order to understand anything I have to see them and touch them for myself, seeing them with my own eyes and touching them with my own fingers to see how they work. Thomas may not come off very well in this week’s Gospel, but the point of the story isn’t Thomas’ doubts, but rather a recognition of the blessing of our own faith, an affirmation that even though we’ve never seen the risen Christ in the flesh, we still believe. Our love of the Apostles and all the Saints shouldn’t be entirely focused on their piety, but also needs to embrace their all too human flaws. For it is in those flaws we can see ourselves and recognize that just as Jesus loved Thomas, he loves us too. Even with all our own doubts and flaws, we share in that love and continue to spread the Gospel.
That also makes this Gospel fitting for the celebration of the Sunday of Divine Mercy. Thomas’ flaws, like our own, can only be redeemed by Christ’s mercy. The Sunday of Divine Mercy originated in 2000 in honor of the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska. Sr. Faustina (1905-1938), from Poland, was a Christian mystic and nun who experienced apparitions of Jesus. She is known as the “Secretary of Divine Mercy” based on her writings that centered on the mercy of God, to trust in the abundant mercy of Christ, and to show mercy to others. Her visions and her devotion to Divine Mercy is captured in a painting by artist Eugene Kazimierowski, which was painted under the direction of Sr. Faustina. God’s mercy is what brought Christ to us, so it seems only fitting that we celebrate His divine mercy on this 2nd Sunday of Easter.
The Word for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy)
Acts 4:32-35
Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
Since our focus during Easter is on the beginnings of the Church, our first reading will be coming from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, that wonderful sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Our passage for this Sunday gives us a picture of what life was like in the very early days of the Church, living together in community while the Apostles continued to witness to Jesus’ resurrection. This form of communal living was not unheard of for this time-period, but it does show us two distinct reasons why the early Christians lived this way. First, it allowed for a communal use of resources. Second was for mutual protection. Many early Christians were exiled from their families and communities (Jewish and otherwise) for following this new faith tradition. Their beliefs and way of living often made them the target of choice for the simple fact that they were “different” from everyone else. This “difference” comes from their whole-hearted belief in the sentiment of our Psalm, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his love is everlasting.”
Our second reading for this Sunday (and for most of the Sundays this Easter) comes from the 1st letter of John. Most scholars attributing this letter to the author of John’s Gospel. Though an earlier work, you can see the beginnings of the style he employed in his Gospel, a style that requires a slow and prayerful reading because no word is wasted, and each line drips with deep meaning that requires thoughtful consideration to put it into context. This week’s message is a reminder to follow God’s commandments, which for those who believe, are not burdensome. It reflects Mosaic Law and tradition, while wrapping it in the cloak of the Holy Trinity.
Our Gospel, like most of our Gospels from this Easter Cycle, is also from John. Though this Sunday’s passage is often referred to as John’s “Pentecost moment,” our focus this week is really on the Apostle Thomas, whom history has dubbed rather unkindly as “doubting Thomas.” The story has a most unique way of engaging our own belief because Thomas, like John’s audience and like us today, were not witnesses to Jesus’ first appearance in that upper room. Here Thomas represents us, with the same questions and same doubts we all have. Interestingly, however, we tend to side against Thomas as we read the story because of his apparent lack of faith, as if to say, “how can you not believe?” This paradox is intentional because it mirrors not only our faith experience (we believe yet still can suffer doubts), but the very advocacy Jesus and the Spirit can offer to the Father (because he was one of us, who best to speak on our behalf).
Final Thoughts:
One of the beautiful things about our church is how we can see aspects of ourselves in the Apostles and many of the saints. For me, Thomas is one of those people. In order to understand anything I have to see them and touch them for myself, seeing them with my own eyes and touching them with my own fingers to see how they work. Thomas may not come off very well in this week’s Gospel, but the point of the story isn’t Thomas’ doubts, but rather a recognition of the blessing of our own faith, an affirmation that even though we’ve never seen the risen Christ in the flesh, we still believe. Our love of the Apostles and all the Saints shouldn’t be entirely focused on their piety, but also needs to embrace their all too human flaws. For it is in those flaws we can see ourselves and recognize that just as Jesus loved Thomas, he loves us too. Even with all our own doubts and flaws, we share in that love and continue to spread the Gospel.
That also makes this Gospel fitting for the celebration of the Sunday of Divine Mercy. Thomas’ flaws, like our own, can only be redeemed by Christ’s mercy. The Sunday of Divine Mercy originated in 2000 in honor of the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska. Sr. Faustina (1905-1938), from Poland, was a Christian mystic and nun who experienced apparitions of Jesus. She is known as the “Secretary of Divine Mercy” based on her writings that centered on the mercy of God, to trust in the abundant mercy of Christ, and to show mercy to others. Her visions and her devotion to Divine Mercy is captured in a painting by artist Eugene Kazimierowski, which was painted under the direction of Sr. Faustina. God’s mercy is what brought Christ to us, so it seems only fitting that we celebrate His divine mercy on this 2nd Sunday of Easter.
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