Reflection on 2nd Sunday of Easter – Fr Gilmour

April 12, 2015 – Second Sunday of Easter – Sunday of Divine Mercy – Lectionary: 44

 

Reading 1 – Acts 4 :32-35

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24

 R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting – Alleluia.

Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting – Alleluia.
I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just:
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting – Alleluia.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting – Alleluia.
Reading 2 – 1 John 5:1-6

 Beloved:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father
loves also the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ,
not by water alone, but by water and blood.
The Spirit is the one that testifies,
and the Spirit is truth.
Alleluia – John 20:29

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen me, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel – John 20: 19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

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.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Listen to the Scriptures:   Click on the link below:

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/15_04_12.mp3

2nd Sunday of Easter

All three readings today show us what it means to live out our faith in Jesus’ resurrection now.  When we think of risen life, we often project it into the future, viewing it as something that happens to an individual in the next life.  The readings challenge that attitude in two ways:

risen life is not just a future concern; it begins now in our attitudes and actions; and

 

  1. risen life is not just an individual concern; it is a social matter.

The reading from Acts describes the life of people who really have faith in the risen Jesus.  Convinced that they all belong to the one risen body of Christ, they share their material goods so that no one is in need.  Such an ideal challenges our own acquisitiveness and drive for security.  We think that we will share when we have all that we need and want: new clothes, a car, a good house etc.  But our needs and wants keep growing and are never satisfied.  Meanwhile the majority of the word’s population go to bed hungry at night and live without the basic necessities of life.  We cannot say we believe in Jesus’ resurrection and ignore those in need.

In the reading from 1 John, we see that it is not only our goods we must share, but also our love.  Our faith in the risen Jesus calls us to love all God’s children.  Practically, that means we cannot say we have faith in the resurrection when we still hold grudges, form cliques, social or tribal groups which exclude others, and maintain hatred and divisions in our families, neighborhoods or society.  And since God’s children extend throughout the earth, world peace must also be a concern of our love.

The gospel reading describes what is perhaps the greatest challenge to our faith in the risen Jesus: we must believe in the love and care of God, even when we cannot see or feel it.  Thomas finds it hard to believe unless he first examines the wounds of the crucified Jesus.  He wants assurance for his faith.  Thomas is like all of us who come after him.  We want some proof that will support our faith in dark and difficult times.  Jesus’ answer to Thomas is addressed to all of us: Blessed are you when you cannot see any purpose in your suffering or the death of a loved, and yet believe that God is with you; blessed are you when you are tempted to be anxious about the future and what your tomorrows will bring, and yet trust God’s love and care for you; blessed are you when you cannot see the results of your love and care for others, and yet continue to believe that this is the way to union with the Father.

Finally, belief in the resurrection not only challenges us; it gives us hope.  Jesus promises us two gifts to bolster our trust: peace and forgiveness.  Since Jesus is risen, we need not despair in the face of failure and even death.  We no longer need to cling to material goods to allay our anxieties and quiet our fears.  Nor do we need the barriers and defenses that keep us from asking for forgiveness and forgiving others in turn.  If we accept the challenge of believing and living risen life now, we receive what we are searching for most deeply: freedom from anxiety and fear, and the capacity to forgive others and live in peace.

 Questions For Reflection / Sharing / Discussion

 

  1. Does Acts’ description of Christian community strike you as too ideal to be put into practice?  Why or why not?

 

  1. What connection do you see between belief in the resurrection and a willingness to share your goods with others?

 

  1. How does John’s phrase, “Everyone who loves the father loves the child he has begotten,” express the relationships between our love of God and love of others?

 

  1. Which of “God’s children” in the world do you see as especially in need of your love right now?

 

  1. How do you find Jesus’ words to Thomas, “Blest are they who have not seen and have believed,” addressed to your own life?
  2. Examine your own desire to acquire material goods and security.  List those items which you would be willing to forego (give up) in order to help others who are in greater need.

 

  1. As a community, prepare to share with one another one present experience of darkness and difficulty, that is, problems in your life, worries or concerns, in which it is hard to “believe without seeing” the love and care of God for you.

Something To Think About

 In today’s Gospel the character of Thomas stand out clear before us.

To Thomas the Cross was only what he had expected.  When Jesus had proposed going to Bethany, after the news of Lazarus’ illness had come, Thomas’ reaction had been: Let us also go, that we may die with him (John 11:16).  Thomas never lacked courage, but he was the natural pessimist.  There can never be any doubt that he loved Jesus.  He loved him enough to be willing to go to Jerusalem and die with him when the other disciples were hesitant and afraid.  What he had expected, had happened, and when it came, even though he had expected it, he was broken-hearted, so broken-hearted that he could not meet the eyes of men, but must be alone with his grief.    Thomas had to face his suffering and his sorrow alone.  So it happened that, when Jesus came back again, Thomas was not there; and the news that he had come back seemed to him far too good to be true, and he refused to believe it.  Belligerent in his pessimism, he said that he would never believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he had seen and handled the print of the nails in his hands and thrust his hand into the wound the spear had made in Jesus’ side.

Another week elapsed and Jesus came back again; and this time Thomas was there.  And Jesus knew Thomas’ heart.  He repeated Thomas; own words, and invited him to make the test that he had demanded.  And Thomas’ heart ran out in love and devotion, and all he could say was: My Lord and my God!  Jesus said to him: Thomas, you needed the eyes of sight to make you believe; but the days will come when men will see with the eyes of faith and believe.

 

  1. Thomas made one mistake.  He withdrew from the Christian fellowship.  He sought loneliness rather than togetherness.  And because he was not there with his fellow Christians he missed the first coming of Jesus.  We miss a great deal when we separate ourselves from the Christian fellowship and try to be alone.  Things can happen to us within the fellowship of Christ’s Church which will not happen when we are alone.  When sorrow comes and sadness or disappointment envelops us, we often tend to shut ourselves up and refuse to meet people.  That is the very time when, inspite of our sorrow or disappointment, we should seek the fellowship of Christ’s people, for it is there that we are likeliest of all to meet Him face to face.

 

  1. But Thomas had two great virtues.  He absolutely refused to say that he understood what he did not understand, or that he believed what he did not believe.  There is an uncompromising honesty about him.  He would never still his doubts by pretending that they did not exist.  He was not the kind of man who would rattle off a creed without understanding what it was all about.  Thomas had to be sure–and he was quite right.  Tennyson wrote:

There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”

There is more ultimate faith in the man who insists on being sure than in the man who glibly repeats things which he has never thought out, and which he may not really believe.  It is doubt like that which in the end arrives at certainty.

 

  1. Thomas’ other great virtue was that when he was sure, he went the whole way.  “My Lord and my God!” said he. There was no halfway house about Thomas.  He was not airing his doubts just for the sake of mental acrobatics; he doubted in order to become sure; and when he did, his surrender to certainty was complete.  And when a man fights his way through his doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, he has attained to a certainty that the man who unthinkingly accepts things can never reach.
Intercessions – intentions – 2nd Sunday of Easter

For the Church: that through the gift of the Spirit we may deepen our commitment to God even though we do not see Christ as Thomas did, let us pray to the Lord.

For all Christians: that we may devote ourselves to listening to the Scriptures and to growing in prayer, let us pray to the Lord.

For this assembly of faith: that we who break the bread in Christ’s name may share our lives in support of one another in our journeys of faith, let us pray to the Lord.

For all the baptized, particularly the newly baptized: that we who have been given a new birth may offer convincing witness to Christ’s resurrection with our words and by attending to the needs of others, let us pray to the Lord.

For all who struggle with faith or who lack belief: that God’s love and presence may become known to them and bring light to their life’s jour, let us pray to the Lord.

For the deepening of community and fellowship: that we may grow in our care and respect for one another as fellow Children of God, let us pray to the Lord.

For a spirit of reverence: that as we break the bread and share the cup, we may recognize more fully the Risen Lord in our midst, let us pray to the Lord.

For the grace to be peacemakers and instruments of forgiveness: that we may help others experience the freeing and renewing power of forgiveness and reconciliation, let us pray to the Lord.

For the grace to forgive: that flowing from God’s forgiveness of us, we may forgive those who have harmed or wronged us, let us pray to the Lord.

For a greater appreciation of the sacrament of penance: that we may recognize God’s gift of love and healing offered through the confession of our sinfulness, let us pray to the Lord.

For all confessors: that God will give them wisdom to encourage penitents and help them to be signs of God’s love and mercy, let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are bound by sinfulness: that God may break their bonds and open a new path of life that reveals love, kindness and mercy to them, let us pray to the Lord.

For all relief and aid workers: that God will give them strength and courage to assist those whom they serve, let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are in need, for the poor, the homeless, the homebound, and those who are ill: that they may encounter the Risen Lord who brings hope and healing, let us pray to the Lord.

For the members of Parliament: that God will inspire them with new vision to produce necessary legislation promoting the common good and the values that we profess, let us pray to the Lord.

For all who have been impacted by tornadoes, floods and wildfires: that God will give them strength and courage to rebuild their lives and help many to respond, let us pray to the Lord.nd generously to their need, let us pray to the Lord.

For the people of Ukraine, Syria and the Central African Republic: that God will
Bring an end to violence and help each person to respect the dignity of others, let us pray to the Lord.

For Peace: that Christ’s gift of peace may settle in the hearts of all the human family and guide us away from violence and revenge, Ket us pray to the Lord. , let us pray to the Lord.

Credit : Rev Fr Gilmour

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Translate »