May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
Last Sunday we found an empty tomb. This Sunday, we find mercy. Perhaps, dear brothers and sisters, it is
better to say that this Sunday, mercy finds us.
In our reading from the gospel today the disciples were not
looking for mercy. They were not looking
for anything. They were locked in a
room, trapped by fear and trapped by guilt because they had abandoned their
master in the hour of his suffering.
They had betrayed him. They had
broken the promises that they had made to him.
But Jesus Christ keeps his promises.
He had promised that he would rise from the dead. He had promised that he would reconcile the
world to the Father. He had promised
that he would see his disciples again.
The Risen Christ came through the door that was locked. He broke through their fear and their
guilt. He found them and he showed them
mercy. After his glorious resurrection
the disciples are the first to become sharers in the mercy of God. On the
day that they encountered the mercy of the Risen Jesus, he made his disciples
the first to become sharers of the
mercy of God. He had shown them mercy. By his power, his authority, and his command,
they would show and extend his mercy.
The gift of mercy that they had received, they would now reveal.
During the weeks of the Easter season, we will hear the
stories of the early Christian community as recounted in the book of Acts. It was a community of one faith, but two
cultures. It was a community much like
our own. They had their troubles, their
trials and their triumphs, and so do we.
The unity of that early Christian community was found in their life of
prayer together, in their sharing of life together, and in the breaking of the
bread. Their unity was in the
celebration of the Eucharist and under the leadership of the apostles. Every celebration of the Eucharist is a
celebration of unity. Every celebration
of the Eucharist is a celebration of the mercy of God. The community of disciples reflected the
mercy of God. The Risen Lord Jesus, in
his great mercy, in the preaching of his apostles and by his sacramental
presence, had broken through their divisions and difficulties just as he had
broken through the fear and guilt of his apostles. The apostles had received the mercy of
God. The apostles had revealed the mercy
of God. The apostolic community received
and revealed and reflected the mercy of God.
We are a community drawn together by the mercy of God. For most of us, the mercy of God found us and
claimed us when we were children, through the waters of baptism. Saint Peter reminds us that we were given a
new birth to a living hope through the mercy of God. We gather each Sunday for the celebration of
the Eucharist, hearing the teachings of the apostles and under the leadership
of one sent by apostolic authority. We
are gathered as a people who stand in need of the mercy of God. We admit this publicly at the beginning of
every Mass. We admit this privately and
powerfully and humbly in the sacrament of reconciliation. We are gathered as a people who have received
the mercy of God. We are called to
become a people who reveal the mercy of God and who by our life together
reflect the great mercy of God. In the
joy of the resurrection and the glory of Easter day, with one voice we acclaim
that we have been found by mercy. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
