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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

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  • Posted by Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A. April 23, 2022 - 228 views

    Second Sunday of Easter

     

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    Gospel text (Jn 20:19-31): On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “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, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

    Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

    Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

    Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

    “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”

    Today, Second Sunday of Easter, we complete the octave of this liturgical time, one of the two octaves —along with that of Christmas— that have remained out of the renewal made by the Vatican Council II. During eight days we contemplate the same mystery and we try to go deeper into it by the light of the Holy Spirit.

    Pope John Paul II decided to call this Sunday Divine Mercy Sunday. It is something that goes far beyond a particular devotion. In his encyclical Dives in Misericordia, the Holy Father explains that Divine Mercy is the ultimate manifestation of God's love in a history injured by sin. In Latin “Misericordia” (which means “mercy”) comes from two words: “miser” (misery) and “cor, cordis” (heart). Our own despicable situation due to sin is placed by God in Jesus' loving heart, that is faithful to His Father's designs. Jesus Christ, dead and resurrected, is the supreme manifestation and acting of the Divine Mercy. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16) and has sent him to die to save us. “To redeem the slave He has sacrificed the Son”, we have proclaimed in the Easter Proclamation of the Easter Vigil. And, once resurrected, He has constituted him into a source of salvation for all those who believe in Him. By faith and conversion we receive the treasure of his Divine Mercy.

    Holy Mother Church, who wants her children to live the resurrected life, commands that —at least for Easter— we receive Holy Communion and we do it in the grace of God. The fifty days following Easter is the right time for us to fulfill the Paschal Precept. It is time to practice the sacrament of confession and benefit from the power of forgiving sins the Lord resurrected has conferred to His Church. As he said to the Apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them” (Jn 20:22-23). We shall thus go to the source of Divine Mercy. And we should not doubt either to bring our friends to these sources of life, to the Eucharist and to Penance. Jesus resurrected expects us to.