{"id":2485,"date":"2018-04-08T12:06:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T16:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2485"},"modified":"2018-04-08T12:06:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T16:06:05","slug":"2nd-sunday-of-easter-divine-mercy-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/2nd-sunday-of-easter-divine-mercy-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy), Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

2nd<\/sup> Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy), Year B<\/a>
\nActs of the Apostles 4:32-35
\nPsalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
\n1 John 5:1-6
\nJohn 20:19-31
\nApril 8, 2018<\/p>\n

Jesus has been crucified.\u00a0 How could this have happened to the Messiah?<\/p>\n

The tomb has been found empty.\u00a0 What does this mean?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 The disciples are gathering together<\/em><\/strong> in a locked room.\u00a0 They have locked the door out of \u201cfear of the Jews<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In human terms, they have reason to fear.\u00a0 Jesus, the one whom they had come to follow had been arrested, beaten, and crucified by the Jewish leaders who opposed him.\u00a0 His disciples were afraid the same thing could happen to them.\u00a0 So, they gathered together<\/em><\/strong> in the locked room.<\/p>\n

Jesus knew they were struggling to make sense of what happened.\u00a0 He knew they weren\u2019t sure what the empty tomb meant.\u00a0 He knew they were afraid.<\/p>\n

In his mercy, he comes to them through the locked door.\u00a0 Knowing their fear, he greets them \u201cPeace by with you.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Knowing they don\u2019t understand what it means to rise, \u201che showed them his hands and his side<\/em>,\u201d his hands where the nails were driven through, his side where he was lanced after his death and the blood and the water flowed out to show them that he is indeed the same Jesus who has been crucified.\u00a0 Again, he says, \u201cPeace be with you.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 In his mercy, he continues to offer them peace.<\/p>\n

One of the Twelve, Thomas, was not there.\u00a0 When the others tell him about Jesus\u2019 appearance, he refuses to believe unless he sees for himself.\u00a0 For this, he has been known since then as \u201cdoubting Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he doubt?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it seems impossible.\u00a0 Remember, no one had risen from the dead before so this is all new.<\/p>\n

Were the other disciples any different?\u00a0 What did all the disciples do as Jesus was arrested?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t they run in fear?<\/p>\n

Where were the others when Jesus appeared to them?\u00a0 In a locked room!\u00a0 If they had no doubt, why would they have been behind locked doors?<\/p>\n

A week later Jesus appears again and speaks directly to Thomas, inviting him to touch his wounds.\u00a0 Thomas immediately comes to believe.\u00a0 In his doubt, he receives assurance.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to doubt?\u00a0 To doubt is to be uncertain about something.\u00a0 The disciples were very uncertain about what \u201cresurrection\u201d meant but they still believed.\u00a0 If they had lost all faith, why were they gathered together<\/em><\/strong> in a locked room?<\/p>\n

We can look at the world today, see all the violence and wonder why is God in all of this? \u00a0Why doesn\u2019t God do something about it?\u00a0 Morality is on the decline with some giving up on any sense of an absolute truth or right and wrong.<\/p>\n

It can make us wonder.\u00a0 Some would call it doubt.\u00a0 But in faith, we still trust in God.\u00a0 We still come together because there is still hope in our hearts.\u00a0 Where does this hope come from?\u00a0 It is a gift from God.<\/p>\n

I want to point out that when Jesus appeared and spoke to Thomas, Jesus did not explain the Resurrection and Thomas did not ask for an explanation.\u00a0 Once he saw the Lord, that was enough.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Jesus came to him and to the others in that locked room.\u00a0 Did Jesus teach to his disciples?\u00a0 Yes, but he did not explain everything<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 He spoke to their hearts to nurture their faith and hope rather than provide knowledge.<\/p>\n

Jesus did this, as he does everything, out of mercy.<\/p>\n

In 2000, Pope John Paul II declared that this Second Sunday of Easter be always celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday.<\/p>\n

What is \u201cmercy\u201d?<\/p>\n

In church terms, we think of mercy as the forgiveness of our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.\u00a0 Certainly, this is a form of mercy that we need throughout our lives.<\/p>\n

We also talk about acts of mercy, starting with feeding the hungry and visiting the sick to counseling the doubtful and offering instruction but, again, what is mercy?<\/p>\n

For the recent Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Vatican published a series of books.\u00a0 One of them is called, The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy <\/em>(Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.<\/em> Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2015.)\u00a0 In this book (page 15), we read that the Latin word for \u201cmercy\u201d is \u201cMisericordia.\u201d\u00a0 The word comes from \u201cmisere\u201d, meaning \u201cmisery\u201d and \u201ccor\/cordis\u201d meaning \u201cheart\u201d.\u00a0 Thus, it identifies mercy as \u201chaving a heart full of solidarity with those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is at the core of who Jesus is.\u00a0 Everything he does comes from his heart, from his love for us.<\/p>\n

We can have lots of questions that we want to ask God.\u00a0 In our humanity, we might like some answers but we don\u2019t have all the answers.\u00a0 That means we aren\u2019t going to understand everything.\u00a0 We might doubt (wonder) why things are the way they are.\u00a0 This doubt is not a denial of God.\u00a0 It simply means we have questions but in faith, we had it over to God and ask for his mercy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2nd Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy), Year B Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35 Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31 April 8, 2018 Jesus has been crucified.\u00a0 How could this have happened to the Messiah? The tomb has been found empty.\u00a0 What does this mean? It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 The disciples …<\/p>\n

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