AS THE FATHER SENT ME SO I AM SENDING YOU
Second Sunday of Easter
Readings for Year A: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 117; I Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
I see that four years ago I produced the Newsletter article for this Second Sunday of Easter. My reflection on the Gospel was written in a very different context than today. Then I reflected on the sense of anti-climax that can come at this time after all the drama of the Holy Week services, especially for those involved in preparing them. This year our Easter has been much more low key. Perhaps were able to follow the ceremonies live streamed on the internet, as they were from this church. However, that is not quite the same as being able physically to take part as a community.
Today perhaps we more identify with that group of disciples in today’s Gospel, fearful, locked in the upper room. It chimes a little bit with our current experience of fear and social distancing. Our being locked away is an act of charity to enable us as a society to cope with the virus which we are experiencing. If we were to go out into the market place today to proclaim the Good News of the resurrection the police would tell us we were putting people at risk and move us on.
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives those frightened disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit with a mission to forgive sins and sends them out into the world. What then does Jesus command to his disciples, “As the Father sent me so I am sending you”, mean for us today. Perhaps we get a clue to this in the first reading. The way in which the early Christians prayed and shared together being more concerned for the needs of others than themselves. Again we are not able to gather as they were but we can live in that same spirit. However, we can be joined in prayer and in care for one another. We still have a message of hope for a our world. It is the message of hope which Peter talks about in our second reading. That new birth of the resurrection which we receive through the mercy of God.
Pope John Paul II declared this to be Divine Mercy Sunday, promoting the devotion to the Divine Mercy based on the spiritual experiences of St Faustina Kowalska. The message of the mercy of God expressed in the death and resurrection Jesus is the message that we are called to live out and proclaim in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. One of the striking things has been the great variety of creative ways in which Christians have been finding to proclaim that message, often reaching many more people than would have been possible in physical gatherings.
Today we make our own Thomas’ profession of faith in the risen Jesus, “My Lord and My God!” which we find in the second half of today’s Gospel. We pray that the Spirit we have received may help us to see the way to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrection, the Good News of the mercy of God, in our present situation.
Fr Chris Pedley S.J.