2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy), B April 11, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“Peace be with you.” They’re the first words Jesus speaks to his Apostles since he died. They are the reason he rose from the dead in the first place. It is this peace, and the joy that comes with it, that is the topic, the focus of our journey through Easter. This season begins with rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead… rejoicing that our trust in God is not misplaced… that this trust ends with joy and light.
Central to this joy and peace is what is displayed in the readings today. St. Thomas the Apostle is often called “doubting Thomas” because what you’ve just heard. He did doubt so the name makes sense. Still, what exactly did he doubt? I think most people hear his nickname and assume he’s doubting Jesus. That is partly true. Jesus did tell all of the Apostles ahead of time that he would rise from the dead. Thomas should have remembered Christ’s words and believed.
At the same time, the other Apostles are guilty of the same thing. The women who went to the tomb had already told them that Jesus was alive and they still hadn’t believed. It was only after Jesus showed up personally that they believed. They weren’t much better than Thomas, they just got their proof sooner than he did. So, who did Thomas doubt? He doubted the Apostles. He doubted his companions, his community… he doubted the Church.
It is this aspect I want to pinpoint this week for understanding and living the joy promised by Easter. As I pointed out last weekend, part of what it means to be Catholic is to belong to a family, to enter into a network of relationships rooted in Christ himself. “Me and My Jesus” is a popular way to deal with religion nowadays. Many people may find a level of comfort and happiness with that, especially since it tends not to impose too many burdens on you or challenge your ideas too often. But what that mentality often doesn’t have is real joy, the kind of joy that can coexist with and overcome grief, sorrow, and even death… the joy we see in the martyrs and saints of our history.
This belonging to a family, this being part of a greater whole is essential to joy. I suspect it is part of the reason Jesus chose to leave Thomas out of the loop in the first place, to stress the value of encountering him through the Church. It’s certainly why he gives this promise: “blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” That’s all of us! We don’t get to poke the open wounds of Jesus, but we believe!… or at least try to…
Jesus rebukes Thomas for not believing the Church, not believing the community… the family of faith to which he belongs: “do not be unbelieving!” Our faith comes through and is sustained by community, by belonging to the family of the Church.
Our first reading gives us a glimpse of this as well as a key practical step in acquiring it. “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.” Heart and mind are symbolic of our will and our intelligence. In other words, they were united in what they did and in what they believed. The community I’m talking about – a spiritual family – is not simply being together, it is sharing purpose and belief.
This is why doctrine matters. What the Church teaches is not arcane opinion; It is the foundation, the necessary precondition for the kind of spiritual community that makes this joy possible. This is why Thomas’ doubt matters. If he never believed Jesus was risen from the dead, he could not be united with the Apostles in receiving the Holy Spirit, in forgiving sins, and in proclaiming the Gospel.
This is also why our actions matter. Our second reading, from a letter by St. John the Evangelist, makes it clear that being children of God, being part of this community that is a spiritual family, also means we must obey his commandments. The commands are not an external to-do list, but a concrete, practical way to be sure our love is more than our imagination. The first reading demonstrates this in the lived practice of almsgiving, of loving our neighbor by sharing of our own goods. This is not socialism – notice the government is not involved – and it does not say owning property is sinful. It does not command anyone to take property away from the rich. But it praises those who, like the monks and nuns of today, voluntarily give up their property. It praises those who put their wealth at the service of others, who actualize their love of the community, of the family, by their generosity.
It’s also why sin matters. Sin deprives us of grace, which deprives the community of the grace we could share with them. Even if my sin doesn’t hurt my brothers and sisters directly, it hurts them by depriving them of my contribution to the holiness of us all.
Hence the reason for this special feast of Divine Mercy Sunday. It is why we always read this Gospel of the institution of the sacrament of Confession. To belong to God’s family is to imitate him and the primary attribute he emphasizes for us is his mercy. If we seek to be family, and to know the joy sustained by that family, we must let his mercy wipe away the sins that hurt our family by going to Confession. Union with God is also union with the Church, which is why our sins are forgiven through ministers of the Church. Why confess my sins to a priest? It’s right here in this gospel; Because God himself told us to. Even still, we must go on to then imitate that mercy by forgiving others and through the works of mercy like feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked.
“Peace be with you.” Do you want that peace to stay with you, to produce joy? Then, confess your sins. Forgive others. Show mercy and generosity to others. And, be united with us, with your church, your spiritual family in all of these.
Indeed, I too struggle at times with isolation or with the feeling of being burdened by the requirements of faith, so these are not idle words. It is why I’m currently trying to create small groups of Catholics to support each other, like our bible studies or the upcoming book study. It is why I so often emphasize the importance of confession – I need it every week! It is why I’m striving to establish some kind of social service center in our parish, so we can be a family that together shows mercy to the wider community.
“Peace be with you” is not a magic phrase, it is command. And this command is fulfilled in one way: by mercy – the mercy of God given to us in and through the community, the family of the Church. Will you accept it? Will you live it?