Second Sunday of Easter

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 4/11/02)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, at St. Mary of Sorrows, Fairfax Station.

Two years ago, in a decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship, our Holy Father stated that "throughout the world, the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that humankind will experience in the years to come." Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, and we focus our attention on God’s endless mercy, revealed above all in His Son and Our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in His dying and rising.

Divine Mercy is so clearly proclaimed in today’s sacred Scriptures, and is so profoundly needed by today’s world. For example, the country of Jesus’ earthly life is wracked with violence and death. Attacks are carried out throughout the world to instill terror and fear, and cause suspicion between neighbors. How is peace to reign in our world? What does Jesus teach us about responding to assaults on human dignity and innocence? First, that God can heal and set us free, and secondly, that justice, mercy and prayer are integral components to bringing about true peace.

We look to Jesus Christ, who fully reveals to us who we are. He is our model. In the Gospel account, the disciples are described as discouraged and afraid: "the doors were locked." Into their midst came the Risen Jesus, speaking "peace" — the fullness of God’s goodness. Yes, they had run away when He needed them most. Yes, their leader St. Peter had denied knowing Jesus — three times! Yes, they deserved a reprimand, a rebuke! But, God is rich in mercy. Revealing this mercy, Jesus came, not to rebuke them, but to renew them. He spoke not harsh words of condemnation, but words of peace and forgiveness — He showed them mercy! In fact, He commissioned these disciples to go forth in His name and to be instruments of His Mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, giving them the Holy Spirit to be the very source of their ministry of mercy.

Writing to disciples caught up in persecution for bearing witness to the Truth, St. Peter reminds them that "in his great mercy [God] gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" — a hope that leads to eternal life.

The beautiful "snapshot" of the early Church given us in the Acts of the Apostles shows the disciples living out divine mercy in their communal life, in their prayers, in the breaking of the bread — another name for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice — and in their care for those in need.

Yes, today’s three scripture readings proclaim God’s Mercy so clearly as this Mercy is revealed in Jesus and in His other presence in the world, His Body, the Church, the "community of disciples," as Pope John Paul II is fond of calling the Church.

How profoundly needed is God’s Mercy by today’s world, by the women and men in our society, by us, the present-day community of disciples. There is no one here who does not need God’s mercy, for each day we sin and need to be forgiven. How blessed we are as Catholics to have the Sacrament of Reconciliation, what we call "confession." There, in that tribunal of mercy, we are freed from whatever enslaves us and are sent forth as persons created anew in God’s image and likeness. Knowing the depth of human misery, Jesus asked St. Faustina to: "Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy. There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle … it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one’s misery and the miracle of the Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full." No one is beyond hope; no one is unforgivable. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the font of God’s mercy! How fortunate we are to be able to celebrate this sacrament of divine mercy!

As I mentioned in the beginning of this homily, our world is being convulsed by evil. War is raging in Palestine with few prospects for peace. After having killed each other’s family members, how are Palestinians and Jews to live peacefully as brothers and sisters? After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, how are we to live in peace without fear of another attack? How are the victims of sexual abuse, domestic abuse and injustice to live in peace and harmony with their family members, neighbors, even clergy, after having been violated at such a fundamental human level? In a word: through divine mercy.

Several days ago, Pope John Paul II asked that today be a day of prayer for peace in the Middle East. He urged us to "implore from the heart of God his special intervention with those who have the responsibility and power to take the necessary steps … to move the conflicting sides toward agreements which would be just and dignified for all." He continued: "The dramatic situation in which the Holy Land is living leads me to address again a pressing appeal to the whole church to intensify the prayers of all believers for those peoples now torn to pieces by unheard of forms of violence." Prayer for our brothers and sisters in Palestine is a work of mercy, and on this feast in which we commemorate and celebrate God’s rich mercy, I cannot think of any better way to imitate our Divine Master than to pray that both sides in this conflict will open their hearts to God’s mercy and transforming grace, so that a true and lasting peace can be born.

Allow me to close with the words of Shakespeare which remind us of the fundamental reality of mercy. "The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…" (The Merchant of Venice). Let us follow the example of our merciful Savior whose very life was an act of mercy reconciling the sinful human family with God. Let us show mercy in our lives to those who sin against us by forgiving them their offences, and let us act mercifully in our world by working for justice and praying for peace. Amen.

Copyright ©2002 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.