Divine Mercy Sunday
April 7, 2013
Acts 5:12-16; Psalm 118;
Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31
On
the first Easter night, we know the disciples are quietly huddled together
behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. The author seems to know
the location of their gathering, but it is kept quiet to keep the troubles
away. Mary Magdalene has already been to the tomb; the same with Peter and
John. With news of the empty tomb, I am certain that other women and the
disciples went to see for themselves and they cowered together to discuss what
happened. They needed time to process what they were feeling and to ask
questions about this strange news that Jesus was raised from the dead.
The
full effect of the Resurrection was being born. Peter, the Beloved Disciple,
and Magdalene realized Jesus was providentially raised by God, but they had not
yet learned that Jesus became victorious over death and sin and that his new
ministry was one of consolation and encouragement. It would take a while before
they understood what this curious event meant for them. It is no surprise that
they were fearful because the chaos of the preceding days surely had diminished
only slightly. The death of Jesus was still on the minds of friend and foe and
the intensity of anger and confusion had not yet abated. The locked door
provided necessary protection.
It
did not take long for Jesus to return to his friends. Of course, Jesus first
returned to visit his mother because what son, having returned from the dead,
would not first go to his mom and wipe her tears away? He returns to his
friends after sunset when he knows they are gathered together in the room where
they shared the Seder meal. He longed to see them again and to let them know
that he is glad to be with them once more. Their journey has taken them to
incredible places together and he is both happy to see them again and to let
them know that their place of friendship with him is secure.
Joy
has to be nurtured to grow. We must let it take root by quietly reflecting on
how it is evolving. The atmosphere in the room with the locked door changed
dramatically within the first week from one of intense fear where all the
senses are heightened to ward off any threats to one in which the disciples
begin to share their beliefs with others more courageously. The confusing
emotions from the Resurrection evolved slowly and steadily.
The
disciples wait for Thomas to join them. They undoubtedly wanted him to
experience first-hand the return of Jesus, but also they wanted to share their
joy with him. The mood in the room was much lighter. They knew Jesus would not
be satisfied unless he visited every one of the surviving Twelve again and
offered them his continuing friendship. The task of reconciling relationships
was beginning. Thomas, we know, reconciled in a majestic way by acknowledging
Jesus as his Lord and God.
As
Thomas arrived that night and Jesus appeared before them, the door to that room
was still locked. When exactly did they no longer feel the need to lock
themselves in? After the Passover pilgrimage died down and the many visitors
returned home, perhaps the disciples thought they could show themselves in the
public square again without forceful fear inhibiting their movements. They did
not return to Galilee, but stayed in Jerusalem where they realized their lifetime
work was beginning. The boldness they showed in the public arena, risking death
and imprisonment, showed their great absence of fear.
We
might realize the way our fear paralyzes us, and many of us have the greatest
amount of fear in un-reconciled relationships. Learning to trust reduces fear
and we don’t want to be the first one to make ourselves vulnerable before our
enemy because we have experienced their wrath when we were hoping for goodness.
It is understandable, but if we ever want to let Jesus unlock those doors, we
have to make ourselves vulnerable before others as he did. The disciples
learned that lesson as well when they subjected themselves to harm by the
Temple authorities and came out victorious.
We
cannot grow in any relationship unless we let ourselves be liberated by the
bars we place around us to keep out potential opponents. Some of these locks we
can undo ourselves, but it involves listening so we can understand a different
perspective other than our own, but some of the locks are rusted and blocked so
that no key can fit inside. These are the times we must realize that the only
way for us to be free from our prison cell is by letting someone on the outside
unlock that door.
Freedom
often involves great pain and our release places us in an uncomfortably
uncertain position when we realize we have choices to make. We unfortunately
want someone else to free us and then tell us what we ought to do next. This is
not freedom. Liberation will inspire our souls, brighten our imagination,
reclaim the promise of hope, and wake up energized for the most difficult work
ahead of us, but we know deep inside that we believe in our goodness and
rightness. In the Resurrection, Jesus reminds us that he believes in us. He
sees the good we have tried to do and he asks us to continue along the way
because he will be there to give us many more resurrections of our soul. Our immortal soul is aligned with his. Soul
to soul, he affirms us and shares his joy that we will be together until the
end of the age. Alleluia!
Themes for this Week’s Masses
First Reading: We continue
with the Acts of the Apostles in the Easter octave. Peter and John return to
their people after being released from the religious authorities. They prayed
to the Lord about their ordeal and as they prayed, the whole house shook. The
high priest with the Sadducees had the Apostles jailed but during the night the
doors of the prison were opened by the Lord and the Apostles went back to the
Temple to teach. As the Apostles were brought forth again during their arrest,
they were reminded that they were forbidden to preach. Peter said on behalf of
the Apostles that they are to obey God, not men. Gamaliel the Pharisee urged
wisdom for the Sanhedrin declaring that if this is of God it cannot be stopped,
but if it is of men it will certainly die out. The number of disciples grew.
Hellenists complained to the Hebrews that their widows were being neglected.
The Twelve decided it was right to select seven reputable men (deacons) to take
care of the daily distribution while they continued with prayer and the
ministry of the word. Meanwhile the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased
greatly. Even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Gospel: In John, Nicodemus appeared to
Jesus at night asking how one could be born again to which Jesus answered,
"you must be born from above." As the discourse continues, the
Evangelist proclaims, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
it, but that the world might be saved through him." He explains that Jesus
has come from above and speaks of the things that are from above. Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life. At a feast of the Passover, Jesus
miraculously feeds the hungry crowds as a good shepherd would. He reminds the
people that the actions in his earthly life were precursors of the meal that
are to share. They are to eat his body and drink his blood. Jesus then departs
to the other side of the sea. When a storm picks up, he walked on the turbulent
waves and instructed them not to be afraid. He is with them. He has power over
the natural and supernatural world.
Saints of the Week
April 11: Stanislaus, bishop and martyr (1030-1079),
was born near Krakow, Poland and studied canon law and theology before he
renounced his family fortunes and became a priest. Elected bishop, he oppose
the bellicose and immoral King Boleslaus II who often oppressed the peasantry.
He excommunicated the king who ordered his murder but the soldiers refused to
carry it out. The king murdered him by his own hands, but then had to flee into
exile.
April 13th: Martin I, pope, (6th century – 655), an Umbrian was
elected pope during the Byzantine papacy. One of his earliest acts was to
convene the Lateran Council that dealt with the heretical Monothelitism. Martin was abducted by Emperor Constans II
and died in the Crimean peninsula.
This Week in
Jesuit History
·
Apr 7, 1541. Ignatius was unanimously
elected general, but he declined to accept the results.
·
Apr 8, 1762. The French Parliament
issued a decree of expulsion of the Jesuits from all their colleges and houses.
·
Apr 9, 1615. The death of William
Weston, minister to persecuted Catholics in England and later an author who
wrote about his interior life during that period.
·
Apr 10, 1585. At Rome, the death of
Pope Gregory XIII, founder of the Gregorian University and the German College,
whose memory will ever be cherished as that of one of the Society's greatest
benefactors.
·
Apr 11, 1573. Pope Gregory XIII
suggested to the Fathers who were assembling for the Third General Congregation
that it might be well for them to choose a General of some nationality other
than Spanish. Later he expressed his satisfaction that they had elected Everard
Mercurian, a Belgian.
·
Apr 12, 1671. Francis Borgia, the 3rd
general of the Society, was canonized by Pope Clement X.
·
Apr 13, 1541. Ignatius was elected
general in a second election, after having declined the results of the first
election several days earlier.
Interesting you should say that Jesus first went to visit His mother. That's what the dear old nuns taught us in grade school. It even was an actual question on a test. I believed it without question until I got up the courage to read my own Bible, which I had gotten for Confirmation from my parents but had not dared to look at because the nuns said we were not allowed to read the Bible ourselves. Of course the Scripture doesn't mention such a visit. In fact not much is said about Mary at all after the crucifixion, except that she was present with the apostles in the Upper Room shortly before Pentecost. She may have been included in the "all" who were there for the Pentecost event, but it isn't specifically stated.
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense, of course, for Jesus to talk to her personally after the Resurrection, and a dear friend of mine who is a bit of a mystic and has always felt close to Mary told me once that Jesus had to spend a long time with His mother, explaining how such an ordeal was necessary, just as He had explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. But I have always had a hard time reconciling the way Jesus interacted with His mother in the Gospels with the idea that the Holy Family was a perfect family and the relationship was a close and loving one. Certainly if I had a son who took off without permission and then answered me back when I asked him what he thought he was doing, I would have felt much aggrieved (and probably punished him for being cheeky at best). And the same goes for the incident at the wedding feast of Cana. Maybe it's an artefact of translation or a cultural difference, but the how-is-your-problem-suddenly-my-problem tone of the answer to her rather gentle hint "They have no wine" sounds a bit rude. The fact that she just ignored this and told the servants to do whatever He told them suggests that she was used to this kind of almost adolescent rudeness and knew He'd come through in the end. Makes me think of the parable about the two sons, one of whom always said the right thing and did nothing, while the other always grumped about his chores, but did them eventually. A bit of autobiographical reflection? And then His countradicting the person who said His mother must be blessed (as Mary had herself predicted in the Magnificat) by saying those who heard the word and kept it were the truly blessed ones---unless it was a veiled way of saying that Mary was blessed for her obedience rather than her chosenness, it certainly sounds like a major put-down of His mother. I try to twist the translations around and make excuses for the harshness of some of these sayings, almost like an indulgent grandma trying to defend an uppity kid who mouths off at his mom, but it is difficult. I have nice sons (who are now adults)and they would never speak to me like that, even when they disagree with me as they often do. Is it just me, or do some of these episodes sound like normal-but-not-very-perfect mother-son tension?
Yes, we have to really know how to read and interpret Scriptures. The author of the Fourth Gospel was writing to Christian Jews who were in conflict with the beginning of the rabbinical strain of Judaism, so some of the harsh words are really intended for them.
DeleteWe will never know much about Scripture and some things we have to take as given or as a matter of faith. Having less information allows us to bring even more questions to the Lord.