FORGIVEN AND ADOPTED

First Reading: Acts 4:32-35
Second Reading: 1 Jn 5:1-6 
Gospel: Jn 20:19-31

Dear friends in Jesus Christ we are in the second Sunday of Easter which is also a Divine Mercy Sunday. The first message our Risen Lord delivers is ‘peace’. The readings of today especially the Gospel points out the purpose of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Why did God suffer like this? Why did Jesus accept this cruel death? All of this is to show how much God loves us.  We killed God but He has come back to us in forgiveness and peace. This is the crux of resurrection. The risen Lord has not come back with vengeance or with anger to take on His executioners. Rather He has come back with love and forgiveness. In today’s Gospel we have two appearances of Risen Jesus to His disciples in a closed room. He greets them with ‘Shalom’ [peace].  The message of resurrection is peace. This peace is different from the peace that the world offers, which he already foretold before his death (Jn 14:27). The God whom we killed has now come back with forgiveness and peace. This is something unimaginable. It is right for anyone to punish the offender, but to forgive the offender is something extraordinary. What God has done in resurrection of Jesus is not just forgiveness rather established peace – reconciliation with His offenders. Jesus already prayed for forgiveness for His offenders from hanging on the cross. In resurrection, Jesus has opened a door for His offenders to become part of His family. They are not only forgiven but given inheritance in Jesus’ family.  In the parable of the prodigal son we see how the father restores the wounded relationship. The prodigal son comes back to seek forgiveness. If his father were to offer only forgiveness, then surely the prodigal son would have be employed as slave in his own household. Contrarily, what the father does in the parable is something unimaginable and disagreeing to this worldly standards. The father in the parable restores the relationship. He includes the son in his household, he adopts him back in his family. The lost son becomes an heir. This is what exactly happens on Easter Sunday. The humanity which ran away from God’s garden through the consumption of the forbidden fruit in the book of Genesis is now not only given pardon for that sin but also given a place once again in the garden. Through this restoration we have regained our inheritance as members of God’s family. Humanity is once again adopted as God’s inheritance. This is the mercy of God. Therefore, Divine Mercy Sunday is not just a celebration of pious activity, it is a celebration of our inheritance in the kingdom of God.   

St. John states that God is love. Then what is divine mercy? It is a highest form of divine love. In Jn 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God by accepting the humiliating death on the cross has paid the debts for our sins once and for all. Even today and for all generations to come can invoke forgiveness for their sins by appealing to the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord that has happened two thousand years ago. God the Father by looking at the patient endurance of His Son on the cross forgives our sins and restores our lost place in the Kingdom.  

In the first reading we hear about the life of the first Christians, how they held everything in common. Among them there was no one who was in need of anything (Acts 4:34). All of them share their own wealth. The first proclamation was not about charity and philanthropy.  The central message of the first proclamation was the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 4:33). The hope in eternal life promised by the resurrection of Jesus captivated the minds of the first Christians that they abandoned the standards of this world and adopted a lifestyle that is heavenly. Their main goal was to reach heaven, therefore selling their property or putting their hard earned money in a common collection was not a big burden. All that they wanted was to inherit eternal life. They did not use the renunciation of one’s wealth as means to reach heaven. No. it is only through the mercy of God that we inherit eternal life. The renunciation of wealth was an outward expression of their gratitude for the inheritance that they had received in Jesus.

In the Gospel we also have Thomas who misses the opportunity to see the risen lord on the first day itself. However, the Lord appear to him only after eight days. It is only when Thomas is back and united with the Church he is able to see the risen Lord. Jesus’ appearance to remove the disbelief of Thomas also a mercy of God. The reception of this mercy moves Thomas to acclaim, ‘My Lord and My God’ (Jn 20:28). Thus, when we receive mercy from God we are neither humiliated nor belittled, rather we are only empowered to new way of life. In the history of the Catholic Church we have many saints, among them saints who have worked tirelessly and resolutely are saints who received the mercy of God. For instance, St. Paul and St. Augustine. Their encounter with the Lord completely changed their life and set them on fire. Thus, let us not be afraid of receiving the mercy of God.

On this divine mercy Sunday we are also called to encounter the risen Lord. May we receive His peace in the sacrament of reconciliation – even though we might have done it during holy week. Let us use the plenary indulgence (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion, prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) granted for this Sunday and receive the special promise made by our Lord to St. Faustina that whoever takes part  in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy on this day or recite the Merciful Lord prayer in front of the blessed sacrament in a state of grace, that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin will obtain complete forgiveness (remission) of sins and punishment. All our temporal punishment will be remitted, we will become as holy and pure as we were after baptism – an heir in God’s family. This is the mercy of God. We are forgiven and granted the grace to be an heir in God’s family. Wish you all a graceful Divine Mercy Sunday!