Second Sunday Of Easter (divine Mercy Sunday) – year A
Readings: READINGS: Acts 2:42-47, 1 Pt 1:3-9, Jn 20:19-31
Theme: Experiencing the Divine Mercy and Peace
By Rev. Fr. Daniel Tetteh Tackie
Today is the Second Sunday of Easter and with it, we conclude the Octave of Easter. We know that Easter is the most solemn of all Christian feasts and it is so great an event that one day of celebration does not suffice. We needed eight days of liturgical celebrations to contemplate the Easter mysteries.
Again, the Second Sunday of Easter is also known as the ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’ Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Sr. Faustina in the 1930’s and promised that he would bestow his Divine Mercy to any sinner that totally repents from his/her sins, no matter how grave and our Lord would not refuse any soul that seeks his mercy. It is not a mere coincidence that in the private revelations that Sr. Faustina received, Jesus asked on numerous occasions that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.
On 30th April 2000, when Pope John Paul II canonized his country-woman, Sr. Faustina, he said, “It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church, will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’.” In brief, this Sunday invites us to contemplate the mercy of God. We experience this Divine Mercy very tangibly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and also in Grace – the unmerited favour which God gives to us out of His compassion and merciful love.
Experiencing the Divine Mercy gives the believer a new hope and courage to take up the task and that was what was felt in today’s first reading. The reading recounts the new zeal, the new love, the new spirit that enveloped the early Christian community. A people who used to be afraid of the Jews and persecution, now have been transformed to a courageous people. They are now proud of who they are and their new heritage. This is what the resurrection of Christ does for us also. It restores our confidence as people of God. In the second reading, Peter draws our attention to the gratuitous mercy of God towards us. This mercy culminates in his “giving us new birth as his children,” by allowing us share in the resurrection of his beloved son Jesus Christ “so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt.”
In today’s gospel Christ presented himself before his disciples and equally dispelled Thomas’ fear and doubt. He bestowed important gifts on his disciples, the gift of peace, the breath of the Holy Spirit, and of course commissioned them as “Sacramental Ministers” of the Sacrament of Penance, and workers in the vineyard. Today, being Divine Mercy Sunday, the Gospel reading leads us to discover the meaning of God’s mercy. After Jesus rose from the dead, He appears to his disciples once again. On that occasion Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” In other words, Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit who would accompany them in their mission of bringing about peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.
The message of mercy is that God loves all of us no matter how great our sins when we repent. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins. The message of Divine Mercy is threefold: 1) Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. 2) Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us. 3) Have completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.
The message of this Sunday may therefore be summed up in three points: 1) Today we affirm our faith in the Risen Lord who channels the greatest gift: the grace of God’s Divine Mercy, won for us by the blood of Christ on the Cross and the resurrection. 2) Many Christians have discovered that God’s Mercy is not cheap. They had to struggle through a painful conversion experience and repentance. On this Sunday we are called to a conversion experience so that God’s mercy and compassion may touch us deeply. 3) Just as the Father sends Jesus to share the grace of Divine Mercy with all of us, we too are sent to be instruments of peace, forgiveness, and God’s compassion and mercy. Let us pray to be open to God’s tender mercies — that we might say with the joy of Easter discovery, and with the wonder of St. Thomas: “My Lord and my God.”
