SECOND EASTER OF EASTER (Divine Mercy Sunday)
(Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19; John
20:19-31)
Every year, this Second Sunday of Easter is increasingly
known as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” Pope Saint John Paul II added the name in 2000
during the canonization of Sister Faustina Kowalska. The saint said that Jesus
asked it of the Church. Certainly, the name corresponds to the Gospel today.
Before we look at the Gospel, however, let’s consider the
origin of the word mercy. It is derived from three Latin words: misere,
meaning need; cor, meaning heart; and ia, meaning toward. Mercy is having a heart of solidarity toward
those in need. Theologians consider mercy together with love as God's greatest
attributes. Although He is superior to all, He has continually lowered Himself
to ease the burden of His creatures.
God showed supreme mercy or solidarity with humans by
sending His own Son to the world to rescue men and women from sin. Sometimes it
seems as though our sins don't matter much. People continue to sin without
concern, much less repentance. Yet, our sins place us outside of God's
friendship. "So what?" some ask. If we are outside of a relationship
with God, to whom will we turn in acute need?
Our sins also place us on a path of perdition. This consequence
is evident with sensual vices like gluttony and lust, but it also applies to
spiritual vices. Greed deceives the sinner into thinking of money more
important than human beings. Sloth makes one indifferent to wonderful gifts
like nature and literature because they require some effort to unlock.
When Jesus meets his disciples in the Gospel, he has just
completed his Father's mission. In fact, his last words on the cross were:
"It is finished." The phrase refers to the redemption of the world of
its sins. This mission is the "cup" that Jesus said he had to drink
from when Peter cut off the young man's ear in the garden.
In today's Gospel, Jesus shows how he brings forgiveness in
the world. He breathes on his apostles, saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them..." The apostles
are to go out into the world preaching the forgiveness of sin through Jesus'
death and resurrection. They will baptize individuals to take away their sins.
In time, their successors will dispense the sins committed after Baptism in the
Sacrament of Penance.
Does the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the charge of
going into the world sound familiar? Yes, it is the same commissioning seen at
the end of the Gospel according to Matthew and at the beginning of the Acts of
the Apostles. Each evangelist has his own way of describing how the
disciples-apostles receive the Spirit that empowers them to preach forgiveness.
Finally, today’s gospel goes on to help us accept the reality
of forgiveness in our age of unbelief. It makes two notes indicating that the
testimony the Gospel gives is true. First, Jesus pacifies the doubting Thomas
with his offer to be touched. And second, it assures that Jesus performed many
signs beyond those found in the Gospel so that all people would believe. The
passage ends not simply by recommending belief but by naming its desirable
fruit. Those who believe will have “life
in his name.”
