Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 19, 2020: Peace be with you...

Peace be with you…

Is the mercy of God at work in you?

  When, in John’s Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, they are locked in, and fear dominates their every move.  That fear will continue to dominate their existence until the following week when Thomas is also present and Jesus appears yet again to address the disciples’ doubts.  Jesus is there to liberate them from their fear, offering them peace and breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, the life-breath of their existence as community. Jesus’ divine mercy helps the disciples to move from fear to hope; the very fact that we can find our identity in his breath, in his dying and rising, is God’s mercy at work. 

  Community is also a revelation of God’s mercy at work; the early Christian community in Acts devote themselves to the communal life, breaking bread together, gathering together at the temple, sharing their lives in every way. Christ is still at work in them – his promise of eternal life gives them something to hope in and helps to bond the community together.  It is as Psalm 118 promises:  His mercy endures forever – a celebration of community delivered from peril thanks to God’s mercy.

  We have entered into life in Christ through baptism, a new birth to a living hope, as 1 Peter refers to it, but we have not yet fully entered into resurrection, for our ultimate hope is not yet fulfilled.  But God’s mercy is being played out constantly, and that mercy will lead to our resurrection, to our ultimate joy at union with God:  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 indescribably and glorious joy, Peter writes.  When we are aware of the mercy of God active in our lives, then joy can fill us, push us out of ourselves, connect us in community with one another, that we might know fully the experience of being sustained in faith and in the hope that is the death and rising of Jesus Christ.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 23, 2017: Unless I see...

 Unless I see… 

How strong is your faith? 

   If faith is a celebration of our relationship with the Lord, then the author of Psalm 118 was in a joyous mood.  Having been delivered from we know not what, the king and his people are processing into the Temple precinct in order to celebrate their relationship with the God who has saved them:  By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes!  Their hearts are full of rejoicing; their mouths sing God’s praise.  They have faith.

   The disciples’ faith comes into question in our Gospel from John, where, on the very Sunday of the Resurrection, their doors are locked.   Mary of Magdala has already announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, but they remain in a place of fear, and come to faith only (and only partially) when he appears in their midst.  Yet, a week later, those doors are still locked, and the formerly absent Thomas expresses his doubts:  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.  As soon as Jesus appears, however, Thomas believes, proclaiming his faith with fervor:  My Lord and my God!  He has faith.

   Only once the disciples left behind their fear – their locked doors – were they able to get comfortable with what they knew in their hearts:  that Jesus has risen from the dead and is with us still.  Only then can the disciples enter that place of awe described in the Acts of the Apostles, living with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God.  Did they ever fear?  Certainly.  Nevertheless, they had faith; they trusted in their hearts, knowing that in their relationship with the Lord, there can be no barriers.  Only then do they come to understand that God has given them, as 1 Peter clearly states, a new birth to a living hope, and are safeguarded through faith, a genuine faith that will allow them to survive any trial.  Their faith was strong and gave them an indescribable and glorious joy – is yours strong enough to do that?

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle