Cycle C - Year II:  

24 April 2022: Second Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 5:12-6

Second Reading:  Revelation 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19

Gospel:  Please Read  John 20:19-31 

"We have seen the Lord!"

At our lowest point, when life's struggles bear down on us, our human nature tends to look for certain tangible signs to shore up our belief in the Almighty.  But faith reminds us that God never abandons us in the midst of storms, even when we cannot always feel His helping hand.  

The Second Sunday of Easter presents to us the apostle Thomas who lived by the adage "seeing is believing" as he looked for certain tangible signs to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.

On Easter Sunday the universal Church proclaimed that the Lord is risen!  But none of His closest apostles have personally seen the Lord after rising from death.  The disciples kept themselves locked up in a room after Jesus' death for fear of the Jews.

Now Simon Peter, John and Mary of Magdala were the first to witness the empty tomb where they laid Jesus. They reported to the rest of the disciples that there was no dead body of Jesus in the tomb although the burial cloths were there.  It is possible that the disciples were thinking that if indeed Jesus is risen all the more they were afraid because they realized they were cowardly during the passion and death of their Master.

Then, it happened, "when the doors were locked, where the disciples were" the risen Lord appears to them for the first time with this greeting: "Peace be with you!"

The risen Lord's first words to the disciples, "Peace be with you!" are declaration of forgiveness, peace and mercy, even before they could even ask for forgiveness for their unfaithfulness and cowardice during His passion.

One of the original twelve disciples, Thomas, was not with them when the risen Christ first appeared to the group. So the next time Thomas was with them, the disciples shared their experience with the risen Lord. Thomas refused to believe them and said, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hands into His side, I will not believe." (Jn 20:25)

A week past after this incident with Thomas, and the risen Lord appeared again. Thomas was with the group this time. Jesus allowed Thomas to put his finger in Jesus' wounds. Then Thomas saw and believed! But Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (Jn 20:29)

Let us reflect on the Gospel narratives for insight into our Christian living.

Thomas' story in the Gospel provides us with a story of failure that mirrors a universal human response to the challenge of faith itself.  Who hasn't been a "doubting Thomas" at some stages in our own lives?  It is a struggle of faith against the limitation of human reason, the struggle of faith against hopelessness, and the human failing to reject faith in favor of the limitation of our own experience.

We are also often fearful to face the risen Christ in our lives.  Sometimes we feel like the doubting Thomas in the Gospel -- our faith is not strong enough to withstand sufferings, trials and evils in our world.  That is why we demand clear signs of Jesus' victory over death and sin, like Thomas has done.  Also perhaps, we spend so much time focusing on our sins and failures instead of trusting in God's mercy and compassion. That is why we fear to face the risen Lord in our lives.

Today's liturgy assures us that God's mercy precedes our sins, precisely because of the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus assures us that we are forgiven long before we even think of committing sins. But we must repent and ask for forgiveness.  God only awaits for us to claim the mercy already prepared for us through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

The Second Sunday of Easter is also Divine Mercy Sunday, promoted by Sister Faustina Kowalska.  Let us claim our own share of God's mercy as we face with confidence in divine goodness what difficulties we encounter in our worldly journey to the Father's house.

So let us pray in the Holy Eucharist at Mass that risen Christ open our eyes to the power of the Resurrection, overcome our fear by transforming our doubts and fear into confident faith and boundless joy of the risen Savior... like our Lord Jesus did to the doubting Thomas.              

A blessed Divine Mercy Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!