Year B
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
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In the gospel we find the disciples locking themselves into a room because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities.
But in their fear and anxiety Jesus himself appeared, and he showed them his hands and feet.
And then he breathed on them and told them that they have the power to forgive.
What was inside of them was rich and valuable and Jesus wanted them to let it out.
And then he disappeared again. And they remained behind locked doors.
Thomas did not believe the story when he came back to the room.
“You really think I’m going to believe you? You saw Jesus, you believe he’s not dead, then why are you all still here? Why are you locked–up here? I doubt it.”
The story jumps… a week later. They’re still behind locked doors.
And Jesus shows up, again no need to let him in, he’ll find his own way.
He let’s Thomas have a good look at him. And Thomas exclaims. “My Lord and my God!”
With those words Thomas has recognized and named a new relationship, a new worldview, a new way of being.
Somewhere between Doubting Thomas and Confessing Thomas is the story of resurrection in Thomas’ life.
All that stuff about Doubting Thomas, the fact of his disbelief, is just Thomas’ starting place, nothing more and nothing less. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s a starting place. And we all have our starting places.
What is your starting place? What are the facts of your life today?
Whatever your life is today, whatever your circumstances are, that’s the starting point for your story of resurrection.
So if you’re dealing with deep loneliness, sorrow, and loss, that’s your starting point. That’s the room which Christ enters.
If you are locked in a house of fear, confusion, or darkness, that’s your starting point and the place in which Jesus stands.
If illness, old age, disability, or uncertainty are facts of your life, that’s your starting point and the place in which Jesus shows up.
If you feel lost, betrayed, disappointed, overwhelmed, that’s your starting point and the house Jesus enters.
If joy, gratitude, and celebration are the facts of your life today, that’s the starting point for your story of resurrection.
All those things I just described, and a thousand others are the many ways the doors of our house get locked.
Whatever it might before you, it is just the starting point.
The great tragedy is not that the disciples are in the same house behind the same locked doors. That’s just their starting place.
The great tragedy will be if the disciples refuse to unlock the doors, refuse to open the doors, and refuse to get out of the house.
What are the doors that are locked in your life?
What are the things that have kept you stuck in the same place?
I’ll say it again, that’s just the starting place. Don’t judge it as good or bad, right or wrong. It’s just where you are and it’s the place Christ shows up.
Your life and your story are valuable. Open the door. No locked doors, nor even locked hearts, can keep Jesus out. The risen Lord never ceases to recreate us and to renew us in his love.
Easter is the season to celebrate the good news.
Today, on this Divine Mercy Sunday, that means in particular: believe in God’s mercy, believe that no sinner is ever excluded from seeking God’s mercy.
Recognize the grace of Christ’s forgiveness, submit to it, receive it humbly, and practice it. Amen
Second Sunday of Easter
CCC 448, 641-646: appearances of the risen Christ
CCC 1084-1089: sanctifying presence of the risen Christ in the liturgy
CCC 2177-2178, 1342: the Sunday Eucharist
CCC 654-655, 1988: our new birth in the Resurrection of Christ
CCC 976-983, 1441-1442: "I believe in the forgiveness of sins"
CCC 949-953, 1329, 1342, 2624, 2790: communion in spiritual goods
Today is the eighth day of Easter, which finishes off the celebration of the Easter Octave. Historically, this was the day when the newly initiated Christians would cast aside their white baptismal garment – hence in former days it was entitled dominicia in albis (Sunday in white). Consequently, we can see baptismal language found in today’s collect (opening prayer) – ‘font’, ‘washed’, ‘reborn’, and ‘redeemed.’ The petition found in the collect is very important to consider – ‘increase the grace you have bestowed that all may grasp and rightly understand’. The celebration of the liturgy or the sacraments is not a one-off event but unfolds throughout our lifetime. After celebrating the sacraments of the initiation (baptism, confirmation, eucharist), the neophytes (those who are new to Christianity) are enlightened by the celebration itself and therefore able to understand the mysteries of our faith. This Eastertide season is a time of mystagogia (the mystery of living life fully in Jesus Christ), which is a time of growing in an awareness and understanding of the meaning of being Christian, through the sacraments of initiation. Only after encountering Jesus Christ in and through the liturgy are we able to somewhat grasp the mystery of our faith, albeit under the veil of signs. What should be our focus during this Eastertide? To deepen our understanding of the Paschal Mystery and have a never-greater assimilation of this mystery in our daily life through the practice of prayer, participation in the celebration of the eucharist, and to practice charity to those in need. For Jesus Christ is the true Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world, for through his dying he destroyed our death, and by his rising, our life is restored. Therefore, there is much reason for joy – for fullness of life has been made possible through the Resurrection.
Notes These hymns are for Eastertide and can be found in the Laudate Hymnbook:
254-288 Eastertide Hymns (Laudate)
and
758-773 Jesus in Glory (Laudate)
319-327 Christ the King (Laudate)
511-514; 459, 462 Sprinkling songs (Laudate)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
