The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine our action in the light of love that calls us to patience and mercy.
The light of Love and Mercy
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes a community where the believers share their possessions.
* [4:32–37] This is the second summary characterizing the Jerusalem community (see note on Acts 2:42–47). It emphasizes the system of the distribution of goods and introduces Barnabas, who appears later in Acts as the friend and companion of Paul, and who, as noted here (Acts 4:37), endeared himself to the community by a donation of money through the sale of property. This sharing of material possessions continues a practice that Luke describes during the historical ministry of Jesus (Lk 8:3) and is in accord with the sayings of Jesus in Luke’s gospel (Lk 12:33; 16:9, 11, 13).1
Psalm 118 is a song of victory.
* [Psalm 118] A thanksgiving liturgy accompanying a procession of the king and the people into the Temple precincts. After an invocation in the form of a litany (Ps 118:1–4), the psalmist (very likely speaking in the name of the community) describes how the people confidently implored God’s help (Ps 118:5–9) when hostile peoples threatened its life (Ps 118:10–14); vividly God’s rescue is recounted (Ps 118:15–18). Then follows a possible dialogue at the Temple gates between the priests and the psalmist as the latter enters to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice (Ps 118:19–25). Finally, the priests impart their blessing (Ps 118:26–27), and the psalmist sings in gratitude (Ps 118:28–29).2
The reading from the First Letter of John declares that Faith conquers the World and shares testimony concerning the Son of God.
* [5:1–5] Children of God are identified not only by their love for others (1 Jn 4:7–9) and for God (1 Jn 5:1–2) but by their belief in the divine sonship of Jesus Christ. Faith, the acceptance of Jesus in his true character and the obedience in love to God’s commands (1 Jn 5:3), is the source of the Christian’s power in the world and conquers the world of evil (1 Jn 5:4–5), even as Christ overcame the world (Jn 16:33).3
In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to the Disciples and the Purpose of The Book is shared.
* [20:28] My Lord and my God: this forms a literary inclusion with the first verse of the gospel: “and the Word was God.”4
Steve Titus shares it was Jesus’ multiple greetings of “Peace be with you'' that washed over him in today’s Gospel. He is yearning for more peace during this Easter season.
In this year of pandemic, loss, and uncertainty around the world, and racial hate and unrest, incivility, and political vitriol throughout the United States, faith in many of our institutions and leaders has been shaken or lost. This Easter season invites us to bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and to receive his Divine Mercy during this threshold time. As we bear witness in our own way, may Jesus’ peace be with us. 5
Don Schwager quotes “Touching the Flesh, He Invokes the Word,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"But when Jesus showed Thomas the very places where he had his doubts, Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." He touched his flesh, he proclaimed his divinity. What did he touch? The body of Christ. Was the body of Christ the divinity of Christ? The divinity of Christ was the Word; the humanity of Christ was soul and flesh. Thomas could not touch the soul, but he could perceive it, because the body that had been dead was moving about alive. But that Word is subject neither to change nor to contact, it neither regresses nor progresses, neither fails nor flourishes, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That is what Thomas proclaimed. He touched the flesh, he invoked the Word, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (excerpt from Sermon 145A)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 20:19-31 is from a homily by Pope Francis for Divine Mercy Sunday, April 7, 2013 where Thomas personally experiences the mercy of God, which has a concrete face, the face of Jesus, the risen Jesus. Thomas does not believe it when the other apostles tell him, ‘We have seen the Lord’ (John 20:25). It isn’t enough for him that Jesus had foretold it. . . . He wants to see; he wants to put his hand in the place of the nails and in Jesus’ side. “And how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not abandon Thomas in his stubborn unbelief; he gives him a week’s time, he does not close the door, he waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own poverty, his little faith.
“‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20:28). With this simple yet faith-filled invocation, he responds to Jesus’ patience. He lets himself be enveloped by divine mercy; he sees it before his eyes, in the wounds of Christ’s hands and feet and in his open side, and he discovers trust: he is a new man, no longer an unbeliever, but a believer. . . . “Maybe someone among us here is thinking: my sin is so great, I am as far from God as the younger son in the parable, my unbelief is like that of Thomas; I don’t have the courage to go back, to believe that God can welcome me and that he is waiting for me, of all people. But God is indeed waiting for you; he asks of you only the courage to go to him. . . .7
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the idealism and energy of the early Christian communities is mitigated by everyday life. The early Christian heresy of docetism, rejecting the human and divine nature of Christ, is to be conquered by faith in the Letter of John. Friar Jude reminds us that doubt, as expressed in the “doubting Thomas” phrase, is a weakness that when overcome by the Spirit becomes trust beyond trust.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that John of the Cross (1542–1591) was far ahead of his time in the spiritual and psychological understanding of how love works and how true love changes us at a deep level. He consistently speaks of divine love as the template and model for all human love, and human love as the necessary school and preparation for any transcendent encounter.
To put it another way, what I let God see and accept in me also becomes what I can then see and accept in myself, in my friends, and in everything else. This is “radical grace.” This is why it is crucial to allow God, and at least one other trusted person to see us in our imperfection and even our nakedness, as we are—rather than as we would ideally wish to be. It is also why we must give others this same experience of being looked upon in their imperfection; otherwise, they will never know the essential and transformative mystery of grace.8
The empathy, love, and mercy that we patiently share with others is the foundation for peace and love in our relationships.
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