EASTER II [A] Acts 2:42-47, I Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

A small boy was being raised in a frontier city by his grandmother. One night the house catches on fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the boy who was asleep in the bedroom upstairs, is overcome by the smoke and dies in the fire. This frontier city doesn't have much of a fire department. A crowd gathers around the house and they hear a small boy crying out for help. The lower floor is a wall of flames and no one seems to know what to do. Suddenly, a man pushes through the crowd and begins climbing an iron drainage pipe which runs to the roof. The pipe is hot from the fire, but he makes it to a second floor window. The man crawls through the window and locates the boy. With the crowd cheering encouragement, the man climbs back down the hot iron pipe with the boy on his back and his arms around his neck.

A few weeks later, a public meeting was held to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the child would be allowed to make a brief statement. The first man said, "I have a farm and would give the boy a good home. He would grow up on the farm and learn a trade."

The second person to speak was the local school teacher. She said, "I am a school teacher and I would see to it that he received a good education." Finally, the banker said, I would be able to give the boy a fine home and a fine education." The presiding officer looked around and asked, "Is there anyone else who would like to say anything?" From the back row, a man rose and said, "These other people may be able to offer some things I can't. All I can offer is my love." Then, he slowly removed his hands from his coat pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd because his hands were scarred terribly from climbing up and down the hot pipe. The boy recognized the man as the one who had saved his life and ran into his waiting arms.

The farmer, teacher and the banker simply sat down. Everyone knew what the decision would be. The scarred hands proved that this man had given more than all the others.

On this second Sunday of Easter which is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday Jesus appears to his disciples and shows them wounds on his hands which helps confirm them in their faith. The Apostles had abandoned Jesus just two nights before in his most difficult hour. Yet Jesus was not going to abandon them for their failure to stand up for him. He brings them his peace.

Apostle Thomas had not been with the Apostles when Jesus first appeared to them.  As a result, he refused to believe.  This should serve as a warning to us.  If we stay away from the gatherings of the believing community we might miss out on the important manifestations of God. Modern Christians, who are no longer able to "see" Jesus with their eyes like Thomas, must believe what they hear.  That is why Paul reminds us that "Faith comes from hearing" (Rom 10:17). 

The risen Lord gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins in His Name.  He gives the apostles the power of imparting God’s mercy to the sinner through the gift of forgiving sins from God’s treasury of mercy.   In the liturgy, the Church has proclaimed the mercy of God for centuries through the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.  In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118), we repeated several times, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is everlasting.”  The Gospel text also reminds us that the clearest way of expressing our belief in the presence of the risen Jesus among us is through our own forgiveness of others.  We can’t form a lasting Christian community without such forgiveness.  Unless we forgive others, our celebration of the Eucharist is just an exercise of liturgical rubrics.

Jesus sends out his Apostles to tell the whole sinful world, that they can be redeemed, that God has not condemned them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then, just to make sure that the Church is fully armed to communicate this message, Jesus gives the ultimate revelation of God's mercy - he delegates to his Apostles his divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." 

One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to receive Divine Mercy.  The Gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," demands that we show mercy to our fellow human beings always and everywhere.  It is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment.

As D.L. Moody walked down a Chicago street one day, he saw a man leaning against a lamppost. The evangelist gently put his hand on the man's shoulder and asked him if he was a Christian. The fellow raised his fists and angrily exclaimed, "Mind your own business!" "I'm sorry if I've offended you," said Moody, "but to be very frank, that IS my business!"

Moody rightly observed that this is the business of the church. The church has one primary motive: The proclamation of God's forgiveness and mercy in Christ.

In his conversations with St Faustina, Jesus promised to unleash on the world a flood of mercy.  He has been doing so, and he wants to continue to do so. The flood hasn't yet reached every heart.  It is our duty to become the pipelines for that mercy to refresh the shriveled and dried up hearts around us.  In this mass let’s resolve to be agents of God’s mercy to people thirsting for God’s mercy and forgiveness by going out to others and being merciful to them. Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.