Divine Mercy Sunday April 19, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Video of Mass: https://youtu.be/u6Erxe3n9WI
Dispersed. That’s the context. The second reading, from the first letter of St. Peter, is addressed to those who have been dispersed. For the Ancient Israelites, a central part of their religious and cultural identity rested on God’s promise of a land to call their own. The Promised Land was and still is a crucial theme for all of Scripture. This idea of a divinely-given homeland made it all the more painful, therefore, for a Jew to live somewhere else. Yet that was the case for so many Jews.
Before Jesus, Israel was conquered – multiple times – and every time, many of the Jews were forcibly relocated to other countries all around the known world. Their homeland was where God promised to live, it was the place of Jerusalem, it was the location of all the best and most important festivals. But for many, that was a distant place that they may never see. Still, they considered themselves Jews faithful to the covenant and they were known as Jews of the Diaspora, or the Dispersed.
Perhaps worst of all for these dispersed Jews, the Messiah came and went and they never got to see him. He was dead, raised, and ascended before they ever heard his name. What a thing to miss! The most essential event in history – their salvation – and they weren’t allowed to be there all because pagan governments had forced them to live away from God’s dwelling place. How unfortunate!
Or is it? Because they do still hear of the Messiah, of Jesus Christ, eventually. And without seeing him, without being able to visit Jerusalem where he rose from the dead, they believe. So, St. Peter reminds them: “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This rejoicing is the reason there is so much singing today.
“The goal of your faith.” For so long, that goal was a physical location, Israel. It was considered the “inheritance” of God’s chosen people. So, when Peter refers to “an inheritance that is imperishable,” he is making a connection to that most ancient hope. But it is not a particular country or specific building. In Christ, we come to see that the promised land is heaven and our salvation, the goal of our faith.
Now, that is a fairly common understanding for Christians. Heaven is the real promised land. So what is the point of emphasizing that now? To protect our faith. By remembering that our faith’s goal is not tangible, it helps us to stop tangible restrictions from hurting our faith.
Not that tangible realities don’t matter. We are still human! It is right to want to be together just as it was good for ancient Jews to want to go to the temple or see Jesus in person. In the Gospel, Jesus does not scold Thomas’ desire to see and touch him. It is not wrong and he does give him what he asks. But then he offers a blessing and encouragement to the majority of believers who will never have the experience of the Apostles, a blessing to the dispersed, to each of us.
Peter carried that blessing out to the dispersed Jews so that they became dispersed Christians. He taught and evangelized before going to Rome never to return. So, he writes this letter reminding them that the gift he brought to them is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” even though they can’t see it or even see the guy who promised it to them. Most of them did not have daily or probably even weekly Mass either.
That is the reality of faith, a conviction of what we cannot see. This is hard for human beings. It is first of all a gift and then it is a virtue, something that takes practice. Which is why Peter warns them that they “may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor.”
In other words, if the goal is salvation and salvation comes through faith, then it can actually be more beneficial to be dispersed because it makes the faith stronger to do without seeing for a while. It’s important to remember that he says, “for a little while.” It should not be permanent. It is unlikely that someone who doesn’t have faith will find faith without something tangible to lead them there. But for those who have some already, the path to a deeper faith always runs through trials and being “tested by fire” like gold.
Around the world today, the faithful are dispersed. They are asked to carry on their faith – and even to rejoice in it! – while being unable to see, hear, and experience the tangible expressions of it. The idyllic description of Christian community in our first reading is something to strive for, but it didn’t last then and it never lasts long. Shortly after this, persecution scatters those people, but they don’t lose the faith that made them live that way. Rather, they grew in it and, with time, found ways to re-unite with even greater numbers.
So it must be with us. For your consolation, I turn you to the closing prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a devotion so closely tied to today’s celebration. Part of it asks “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.”
If it is God’s holy will that we must endure this difficult moment, that we must believe and pray and practice our faith without being able to see or receive him in the Eucharist for a little while, so be it. Praise God for chances at confession or adoration – take advantage of those if you can! – but when you’re feeling the distance, the pain of our dispersion, remember that your inheritance is not lost, this trial is not permanent, and that “blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Amen