Sunday, April 7, 2024

April 7, 2024: 2nd Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday

By His Resurrection, Christ came to free us from the effects of sin and bring us into a glorious new Life.

That image is powerfully displayed when Christ passed through locked doors into the room where the disciples were gathered because they were afraid, perhaps thinking that the authorities who came after Jesus would be after them next.

He brings them peace, and shows that the evil of world that led to His death, signified by His still-present wounds, no longer has power over Him.

He offers them the Holy Spirit so that His Death and Resurrection can lead to forgiveness of sins.

Christ did it again a week later, and furthermore broke through the doubt Thomas and called him to a higher level of belief, to acknowledge the new reality of the Resurrection that He now offers all of us who express faith.

Even with all the troubles in the world, we can be, like the 2nd reading in 1 John states, victors because of Jesus Christ, Who died and rose again.  It is truly a great gift of mercy to us sinners that God would bring us alive so powerfully as only He can, washing us in blood and water that pour forth from His body.

We continue to live in this victory as we come together in Church community to make His Risen Presence known to each other.  As Bishop Barron said in his homily for this Sunday, it's telling that St. Thomas encountered the Risen Christ when he was together with the other apostles, and then expressed great faith.

May we open ourselves to the ways that God reveals Himself to us, and acclaim the same faith, "My Lord and my God!"

No comments:

Post a Comment