The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the Second Sunday of Easter invite us to contemplate the development of faith, hope, and love in Christian community through the action of the Spirit engaging us in the awe and wonder of Jesus Presence.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes life among the Believers.
* [2:42–47] The first of three summary passages (along with Acts 4:32–37; 5:12–16) that outline, somewhat idyllically, the chief characteristics of the Jerusalem community: adherence to the teachings of the Twelve and the centering of its religious life in the eucharistic liturgy (Acts 2:42); a system of distribution of goods that led wealthier Christians to sell their possessions when the needs of the community’s poor required it (Acts 2:44 and the note on Acts 4:32–37); and continued attendance at the temple, since in this initial stage there was little or no thought of any dividing line between Christianity and Judaism (Acts 2:46). (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
Psalm 118 ia 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). (Psalms, PSALM 118, n.d.)
The reading from the First Letter of Peter declares a Living Hope.
* [1:3–5] A prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God who bestows the gift of new life and hope in baptism (new birth, 1 Pt 1:3) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The new birth is a sign of an imperishable inheritance (1 Pt 1:4), of salvation that is still in the future (to be revealed in the final time, 1 Pt 1:5).
* [1:6–9] As the glory of Christ’s resurrection was preceded by his sufferings and death, the new life of faith that it bestows is to be subjected to many trials (1 Pt 1:6) while achieving its goal: the glory of the fullness of salvation (1 Pt 1:9) at the coming of Christ (1 Pt 1:7). (1 Peter, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to the Disciples and later to Thomas. The author explains the purpose of the Book.
* [20:19] The disciples: by implication from Jn 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo Jn 14:27. The theme of rejoicing in Jn 20:20 echoes Jn 16:22.
* [20:20] Hands and…side: Lk 24:39–40 mentions “hands and feet,” based on Ps 22:17.
* [20:21] By means of this sending, the Eleven were made apostles, that is, “those sent” (cf. Jn 17:18), though John does not use the noun in reference to them (see note on Jn 13:16). A solemn mission or “sending” is also the subject of the post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47; Mk 16:15.
* [20:22] This action recalls Gn 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf. also the revivification of the dry bones in Ez 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf. also the note on Jn 19:30.
* [20:23] The Council of Trent defined that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18.
* [20:28] My Lord and my God: this forms a literary inclusion with the first verse of the gospel: “and the Word was God.”
* [20:29] This verse is a beatitude on future generations; faith, not sight, matters.
* [20:30–31] These verses are clearly a conclusion to the gospel and express its purpose. While many manuscripts read come to believe, possibly implying a missionary purpose for John’s gospel, a small number of quite early ones read “continue to believe,” suggesting that the audience consists of Christians whose faith is to be deepened by the book; cf. Jn 19:35. (John, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)
Suzanne Braddock reflects on the awe, wonder, and mercy of the Easter event.
The gospel reading shows us the Face of Mercy. The resurrected Jesus, who was abandoned by his disciples, appears through the locked door in the room where they hid in fear with the greeting “Peace.” And breathing on them, an echo of God’s creation of Adam, says “receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” He has apparently forgiven those disciples their failures and made new men of them. And Thomas, who arrives a week later, unbelieving – a stand-in for many of us – is invited to believe by touching the very wounds we have all caused. My Lord and my God!
And blessed are we who believe even though we have not seen. My Lord and my God! (Braddock, 2023)
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) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 2:42-47 comments that today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Today we celebrate the good news that God is always ready to forgive and to heal divisions. Take the early Church, for example. By all counts, it should not have lasted more than a decade or two. But in fact, it not only survived but continued to grow and spread. That’s because God’s mercy, poured out at every Eucharist and every time his people gathered together, softened believers’ hearts and moved them to resolve their conflicts peacefully and lovingly. What a powerful testament to a God whose merciful love triumphs over every imaginable obstacle!
Even today, God’s mercy continues to flow. Every division and conflict can be overcome as we come together to worship him, confess our need for him, and strive to make love our aim. Every sin can be washed away and every relationship restored! Jesus, our merciful Savior, is always ready to help us love one another.
“Lord Jesus Christ, merciful Son of God, draw your people together in love!” (Meditation on Acts 2:42-47, n.d.)
Harry Elias SJ, who assists in the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping, East London, shares his reflections on their discussions about what it really means to have faith in the risen Christ: it is not about an encounter with a resurrected body, but about an understanding of God’s faithfulness to his people.
One such appearance is to the disciples (John 20:26-31), among them Thomas, who is most often singled out as ‘doubting’. I am not convinced that this is a fair descriptor. We know that he was called ‘the Twin’ (John 20:24); and a twin, especially if he were an identical twin, would have been accustomed from very early on in life to being mistaken for his lookalike sibling. So perhaps Thomas was making sure, in case the other disciples were deceived by a lookalike who would later embarrass them, that indeed it was Jesus, with the mark of his nails to show that he had really died and risen.
Whatever were Thomas’s motives, when Jesus asked him to feel the wounds of the nails in his body, Thomas answered, ‘My Lord and my God!’; and Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ John continues by saying that the signs he records were done in the presence of the disciples and are written that the reader ‘may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name’. Faith needs to be mediated through the senses, it can be aroused and encouraged by what is seen, touched and heard; but it cannot be reduced to sensory experience. Thomas (and the reader of the gospel) is chided for doubting the testimony given to him by eyewitnesses, but his faith in Jesus, as his Lord and God, went beyond what he saw and heard and touched (or not). (Elias, 2015)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the sometimes “Pollyanna” view of early Christian community offered by Luke in the time before 70-80 CE when expulsion from the synagogue was complete. In the Resurrection, we have received a promise that will be realized as we are purified in suffering to fully embrace Jesus. Friar Jude notes the high Christology of “doubting Thomas” in recognition of the need to dig deeper into our experience in Christ.
Brian McLaren comments that Father Richard often defines contemplation as meeting all the reality we can bear. To help us meet and bear reality, the prophets say, mourn privately and lament publicly.… Feel the surge of divine grief, the groaning of the Holy Spirit deep within you, and let those groans of loss become the groans of labor so a better world can be born from our failure, beginning with a better you who is still capable of seeing, and feeling, and meeting all the reality we can bear.
Think of the prophets of recent decades: Rachel Carson warning of a silent spring, Dr. King warning of America’s unpaid promissory note coming due, César Chávez calling us to stop oppressing and exploiting farmworkers, Pope Francis warning us to hear the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor, Bishop Gene Robinson calling us to see every LGBTQ+ person as God’s beloved child, Dr. William Barber warning us that our national heart needs a moral defibrillator to shock us out of our coma, and Greta Thunberg warning us that the earth is on fire. The prophets warn us, and too few listen; when the inevitable consequences come, the prophets invite us not to let our opportunity pass by without being named, mourned, and lamented. (McLaren, 2023)
We journey in faith, with the Spirit of hope and love, and the revelation of Divine Mercy in Christ.
References
Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?42
Braddock, S. (2023, April 16). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/041623.html
Elias, H. (2015, April 10). Doubting Thomas and faith in the resurrection. Thinking Faith. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/doubting-thomas-and-faith-resurrection
John, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?19
McLaren, B. (2023, April 16). Public Lament — Center for Action and Contemplation. Daily Meditations Archive: 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/public-lament-2023-04-16/
Meditation on Acts 2:42-47. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/04/16/658284/
1 Peter, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1peter/1?3
Psalms, PSALM 118. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/118?2
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Unless I See - I Will Not Believe. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=apr16
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