April 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. Acts 5:14-15
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." John 20:26-29
Piety
Divine Mercy is the being soaked in the blood of Christ from the Cross. Divine Mercy covers us with the forgiveness of the heart of Christ pierced for our sake by the lance of the soldier. It is poured out in the water and the blood of the Sacramental Life of the Church. Mercy of the divine style knows no bounds. It is the gift of love that is always waiting for us if we are willing to accept it. Our freedom can block mercy. Our intellectualism can contort it by locking it up with reason. Divine Mercy is the gift that no one can force on another. It is the pure gift of love that does not need a reason to be offered because it is given out of love. It has no limits on it other than our need to deserve love. God is pure love. He offers all of himself at each moment. No one can deserve love because the heart has reasons the mind will never comprehend. The heartbeat is the symbol of divine love beating the tune of life. Our goodness is the music of divine life being accepted by being given away.
Study
Love is forgiveness that does not have to be asked for. The spectre of the sins of the world echoes in all the ways we do not reach out with love to make our world a little better by our being there. We study the shuddering horror of the Lord on the cross that we might know the awfulness of our sinfulness in the wonderfulness of Divine Mercy. Discipleship flows out of our awareness of the bleedings that come before the resurrection. We study the signs and the wonders done at the hands of the apostles as they shared the fruits of the resurrection of Christ in the richness of t he fruits of their love for one another. The healing power of Christ flows through our love. The healing touches of love make our world resound with the joyful shouts of the victory of Christ over death and all the ravages of sicknesses. Once we were dead, but now we are alive with Christ’s forever and ever.
Action
We touch the wounds of Christ in our prayer and feel the hidden power of his victory over death and sin. We approach the mystery of Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow in the love that is offered by working for a better world. We put our fingers in the wounds of those who are nailed to the crosses of injustice and see the victory of Christ in the way the wretched frames of beaten people reflect the glory of Christ in salvific suffering offered for the sake of a better world. The imprint of the vows on our lives whether marriage vows or religious vows fills up what is missing to the sufferings of Christ’s body, the Church. We believe in the Christ that is risen because of the Christ that lives in the good people of our lives. We do what we can to lighten the burdens of one another as Community is formed out of our common purpose to live the power of the resurrection in the wonder of dreams that become real in the Divine Mercy of the Community.
