A Reflection by Msgr. Joseph Prior
 

“The Lord is risen;  Alleluia!”

“He is risen indeed!  Alleluia, alleluia!”

The celebration of the Lord’s resurrection continues on this Divine Mercy Sunday.  Jesus’ victory over death manifests God’s loving mercy on his people.  His triumph is fueled by an outpouring of merciful love.  Pope St. John Paul II designated this Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday” to emphasize God’s mercy as it is tied to the paschal mystery – Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.

In Divine Mercy Sunday's Gospel account, we hear of Jesus’ appearance on Easter Sunday evening.  The apostles are locked in a room, full of fear at what had happened to Jesus.  The locked room seems to symbolize their lives bounded by fear, sadness and guilt.  Three times in this short passage Jesus greets them with the words, “Peace be with you.”  The peace Jesus brings is one that will break the chains of fear.  His resurrection shatters the fetters of death and sin.  The peace he brings carries with it reconciliation and healing.

All through the Gospel, Jesus has been forming the apostles to carry on his mission after his resurrection and return to the Father.  The mission is rooted in reconciliation and love.  The healing accomplished for all humanity, through his passion, death and resurrection, is carried forth to the world by those whom he “sends,” the apostles, a name that literally means “one who is sent.”

He instructs them:  “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  So, in this Easter appearance, Jesus pours forth the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and says:  “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

The reconciliation won by Jesus is to be shared.  He commissions the apostles to carry forth this mission of healing founded on and rooted in his passion, death and resurrection.

In the first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we see a living manifestation of the healing that has occurred.  The passage describes some of the key characteristics of the early church.  They are a “community of believers.”  Their faith makes them of “one heart and mind,” so much so that “no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”  The communion built on love and mercy ensured that everyone, especially the poor among them, was included in the life of the community and were provided help.

The First Letter of John reminds us that our participation in the victory of Christ is expressed through faith.  That faith is manifest when we keep his commandments.  Just as Jesus was faithful to the Father in following his will, we remain faithful by keeping his commandments.  Following Jesus means walking the path of love and mercy, eyes focused on him as he leads and guides us forward to the Father.  It is this faith that conquers the world.

Faith is challenging at times.  We certainly see this in Thomas’ experience related in the Gospel passage.  He was not in the room that Easter night.  When the others told him about the Resurrection, he refused to believe, and he was adamant about it.  The fear, sadness, grief and guilt that bound the others bound him as well.

One gets the impression that there was so much weighing him down that he was afraid to believe — afraid to be vulnerable, afraid to trust.  When Jesus returns again, he recognizes the healing that is needed.  He immediately goes to Thomas and shows him his hands and side.  In other words, Jesus offers himself, once again, in love and mercy.

Thomas, now filled with faith, makes the boldest and clearest and most succinct manifestation of faith by acclaiming, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus responds, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  Faith brings with it a participation in divine love and mercy.

Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday, we rejoice at God’s love and mercy.  Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection deliver us from fear, heal our sins and free us from death.  We now hear the call to rejoice, encapsulated in the responsorial psalm, with a new depth of meaning.  The joy is now complete and cannot be taken away.

And so, with “one heart and mind,” we respond, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting,” and “his mercy endures forever!”

For the second time in his pontificate, Pope Francis will preside over the feast of Divine Mercy at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome, known as the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy.

The church has relics of both St Faustina Kowalska and St John Paul II.  On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II established Divine Mercy Sunday.

The Mass will be broadcast by EWTN and will be celebrated on April 11 from 4:30am-6:30am (local time here in Western New York).

At the end of the celebration, the pontiff will pray the Regina Caeli from this church.

Bishop Josez Bart, rector of the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy, reflected on the pope’s upcoming visit.

The bishop said that the present Holy Father testifies daily to this devotion, and that his attention to migrants, the poor, the sick, the suffering, is an illustration of this.  He also recalled how Francis has at least twice distributed the Rosary of Mercy to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square.

“In the footsteps of Saint John Paul II, he wants to breathe this message so that the people of our time are truly people of mercy, the bishop said.  “In this church, last year, he recalled that there is a virus worse than the pandemic: that of selfishness and indifference.”

The bishop suggested that Pope Francis feels a close connection with the church because of his devotion to God’s Mercy.

“I notice that many of his collaborators have come to this church from elsewhere since the Year of Mercy that he instituted in 2016.  And this is a great joy for the Holy Father.  They come to pray and to confess.  From this point of view, it shows to what extent this devotion to mercy has spread, as envisioned by Saint John Paul II, to reach all the inhabitants of the Earth.”

A Reflection by Jeff Cavins

When you were just a child, who did you cry out for when you were hurt?  I distinctly remember as a child, screaming out in that elongated wail, "Mommmmmmmy!"  Even if I was hurt and could save that cry until getting home, the moment I saw my mother the tears began to flow.  It's as if I instinctively knew that mom was the only one to comfort and tend to my needs, unlike anyone else.  Dad would explain why I got hurt; mom would console me and look into my immediate need.  Each Christmas, I'm reminded of the care Mary gave Jesus even when he was in her womb.  I'm amazed that Jesus gave me his mother, what a gift.

Even though we grow older, our need for a mother is still very real.  In John 2:1-11, Jesus shows up at a wedding in Cana, accompanied by his mother, Mary.  In the midst of the wedding, Mary points out to Jesus a "concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one of little importance, 'they have no wine'" (Mother of the Redeemer, St. John Paul II. No. 21).

From the very beginning of the Church, Mary has held an esteemed place as the "Mother of God" and the mother of all who believe.  It was at the cross that Jesus gave himself completely.  A part of his complete gift to us was the gifting of his mother to us (John 19:26-27), the same mother that raised him and comforted him as a child.  Her role in the kingdom of God is unique, as she has been given to believers as a spiritual mother who intercedes and acts as an advocate on their behalf.  Mary is in a real way what we are all to become, someone who is without sin and in total union with the will of God.  What many do not understand is that the role of Mary as the "Queen of Heaven" is not an invention of the Catholic Church, but the continuation of a role established clear back in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Western culture understands that the queen of a kingdom is the wife of the king, but in the days of the Bible, the "Queen" was understood as the mother of the king.  We see that in Solomon's life, he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.  There was only one person in Solomon's life that was unique, and that was his mother.  The mother of the king was celebrated as a unique position in relation to the king.  In the Old Testament (1 Kings 2:13-20; 1 Kings 15:9-13; Jeremiah 13:18-20), we see that the Queen Mother was an actual office in the Kingdom known as the Gebirah.  She was an intercessor and advocate for the people of God and was given responsibility for the care of the people.  While the Queen Mother was not mentioned often, she nevertheless played an important role in the relationship between the people and the king.

St. John Paul II clarified so well what took place at the wedding of Cana and offers us encouragement in our own lives.  In John's text, "the description of the Cana event outlines what is actually manifested as a new kind of motherhood according to the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to say Mary's solicitude for human beings, her coming to them in the wide variety of their wants and needs" (Mother of the Redeemer. No. 21).

St. John Paul II pointed out that Mary's statement has a symbolic value: this coming to the aid of human needs means, at the same time, bringing those needs within the radius of Christ's messianic mission and salvific power.  Thus, there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of their wants, needs, and sufferings.  She puts herself in the middle, that is to say she acts as a mediatrix--not as an outsider, but in her position as mother.  She knows that as such she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind, and in fact, she has the right to do so" (no. 21).

What are your "wants, needs, and sufferings?"  Even as adults, we are hurt, bruised, and confused.  Take advantage of the wonderful gift God has given to you, a Queen Mother who cares.  Yes, it's true that you are no longer a child, but you have not lost the need for direction and comfort.  Go ahead; cry out to your heavenly mother.  She cares.

A Few Things To Do:

1.  Take some time this week to pray the rosary.  The rosary beats the rhythm of human life and you can find aspects of your life in the joyful, sorrowful, luminous, and glorious mysteries.  Your heavenly mother will take you through the life of Christ and intercede for you.  She did an excellent job raising Jesus, so let her help you.

2.  Make a list of your wants, needs, and sufferings.  Remember that a mother notices every detail in the life of her child--therefore nothing is too small.  Take this list to Mary in prayer, and trust in her intercession.