Walking with Jesus: 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

We have celebrated the greatest feast in the Church year: The Resurrection of Jesus. It was preceded by Holy Week, where we remembered and relived the Passion and Death of Jesus. We all have our thoughts, meditations and reflections that remembered these solemn days. On Feb. 25, 2004, Mel Gibson starred in the New Testament-based movie The Passion of the Christ. Those of us who have seen this movie have witnessed more terror and fright at all that Jesus endured at the hands of evil people: the Romans, Jewish religious authorities, and people who did not believe in God’s presence in our lives and world.

What did we learn that we didn’t already know? Probably not much … but this movie was very graphic. We were asked ... in a sense forced ... to watch the depth and extent of God’s suffering in the person of Christ, and the ridicule, anger and hate that was painfully inflicted on Him. Why do people get angry, we may ask? Why do they hate? Jesus’ life has been the focal point of history. Has it been the focal point of my life? We do not enjoy watching reruns of The Passion of the Christ. Why is this so? Many say it is way too bloody and gruesome. Some might say they don’t believe it happened. How many have ever included in their quiet reflections what God is telling us about Himself? It is so obvious that God is a God of love, but is there any part of Jesus' cruel ending to life that was love? Most would say all of it. Would I say that?

So much of our lives are filled with unhealthy dispositions toward people who hurt us, put us down, ridicule us, and abuse us in so many ways. Our natural response is to react with like treatment toward them. How did Jesus react to those who killed Him? The Gospels share:

John 13:1: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.”

Luke 23:33-34: “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified Him and the criminals there, one on His right, the other on His left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do.’”

Mark 15:37-39: “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed His last. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing Him saw how He breathed His last he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’”

Matthew 27:62-64: “Then the high priest said to Him, ‘I order You to tell us under oath before the living God whether You are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘You have said so, But I tell you: From now only you will see ‘the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.’’’

Jesus is God: His total life, death and resurrection testify to this. Jesus came to show us God’s love for everyone, all the time, without exception. Can we say God is best at His love? We can, but we also have to include that God’s mercy is in the forefront of His response to us humans because we always mess things up, enjoy things our way and are totally obsessed with ourselves.

In his monumental work on achieving silence within, Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton writes:

No matter whether we be called to community or to solitude, our vocation is to build upon the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, and on the chief cornerstone which is Christ. This means that we are called to fulfill and to realize the great mystery of His power in us, the power that raised Him from the dead and called us from the ends of the earth to live, to the Father, in Him. Whatever may be our vocation we are called to be witnesses and ministers of the Divine Mercy.

When Pope John Paul II declared this day to be Divine Mercy Sunday, he was pointing to the compassion of Jesus who said to St. Faustina: “I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my mercy.” We look at Jesus’ death and resurrection. We look at the world around us and see a broken generation full of poverty, pain, racism and violence, all of which leads to so much despair. Where are we to turn — to the Lord whose love and mercy are greater than all the world’s pain? Do I seek and want His mercy and love? Do I share this?

The closing prayer of the Prayers of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy reads:

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments, we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy Itself. Amen.

So I reflect on:

• Jesus saved the world through self-sacrifice. What role should self-sacrifice have in my life? What would it look like in my life situations?
• How do I call out, ‘My Lord and My God,’ when I have been shown mercy?
• Lord God, You are constantly showing up in my life when I least expect it: You say, “I am here … I love you … come be in My love … learn My love … share My love … be love.”
  

Sacred Space 2021 reads:

“Thomas places his hands in the wounds of Jesus, and the experience draws from him, the first, ringing affirmation of Christ’s divinity: ‘My Lord and my God!’ Fully human, and fully divine. Eternally human, eternally divine. His human nature is glorified, just as His divinity is humanized. Our human nature will be forever in Him; His divinity dwells within us and will remain with us even to the consummation of the world.”