On this Sunday, besides celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. This day, in the life of the Church, the reality of the Resurrection comes together with a special focus on God's immeasurable gift of mercy to us.
In each of the scripture passages this weekend we are given eye-witness testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus. We hear of Jesus appearing in his resurrected glory to the Apostle John who was exiled in his old age on the island of Patmos because of his faith. John reminds us that he is a sharer with us in Jesus. We also hear the retelling of the familiar gospel story in which Jesus comes to the apostles where they were locked away and hidden out of fear of being persecuted. We hear the eye-witness report, again from John, the beloved disciple, of Jesus bestowing the Holy Spirit on the apostles and giving them the authority to share God's mercy by the forgiveness of sins.
All three scripture readings today offer us inspiration by witnessing to the Resurrection of Jesus, which we recall in a special way here in the Easter season. However, what caught my attention the most was the first narrative we heard, from Acts. Perhaps it stood out the most because this is Divine Mercy weekend—a time when we consider the abundance of grace and clemency offered to us.
Like the other two readings, the first one also witnesses to the resurrected Lord. It tells us the story of the merciful work of the early believers as they carried the sick into the streets so that just maybe Peter's shadow might fall on them, and they would be healed.
Though we're separated by a long length of time from the early Church, we share a great deal with them. We are like those who come for healing from the apostles. We come to the Church to receive mercy, healing, and forgiveness. We come to be hear the words of reconciliation, and we come so that we might be empowered to give mercy.
We are like those who hope to be healed because in a deep way each one of us, in some place in our lives, desires the healing touch of God. We come and we present ourselves so that God might fill us, restore us, and make our lives complete and whole in every imaginable way.
As receivers of mercy we are to also be givers of mercy. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. A good question for each of us to consider is how we will show mercy to others. Are we willing to take the personal responsibility to be merciful to others? What will it look like? Perhaps it will mean standing up for the weak and vulnerable among us when it is unpopular to do so. Perhaps it will mean taking a stand for an unpopular but merciful cause. Perhaps it will mean forgiving and embracing those whom we know to be in the wrong.
Something for us to consider is that when we allow the Holy Spirit to live and move and have his being within us, mercy comes naturally. It happens automatically and authentically. There is, however, a starting place for us.
Most often the place we have to begin is in recognizing our own need, in recognizing and perhaps naming the vastness of our need for God. Being able to express our need—to put in words our failures and need for reconciliation—is the starting place for healing and new life. Frankly for many of us this may be the most difficult thing to do. Yet our Lord receives us as we are. He appoints the ministers of reconciliation over us, and, like with Peter passing by, we discover Jesus hidden among us.
This weekend we continue to celebrate the great Easter joy of the risen Lord. In Mercy Sunday we have an opportunity to celebrate the Resurrection in a special and tangible way. In it we may realize forgiveness by receiving it abundantly. In celebrating mercy we know that the Lord walks near us and by the breath of the Holy Spirit he is ministering to us still today, and moreover we hear him calling out to us to be ministers of divine mercy.
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