2ND SUNDAY HOMILY: DIVINE MERCY YEAR B

2ND SUNDAY HOMILY: DIVINE MERCY YEAR B

THEME: A COMMUNITY OF LOVE AND MERCY.

BY: FR. KARABARI PAUL

“The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.”

In the First Reading (Acts 4:32-35), we see Christian brothers and sisters who loved one another, and so they took care of one another. They had all grown up in a society where the family was the social unit on which they could rely when they experienced tough times. For some, the decision to follow Christ meant that they could no longer rely on the support of their family. The church became their new family. They became so united in heart and soul, which is the highest level of unity. The unity of heart and soul finds concrete manifestation in the sharing in the joys and pains of one another. Every gaping hole is destroyed by love. There is no gate separating Lazarus and the richman. Love is a common element.

We find a great deal of comfort and security in our possessions. We find it difficult not to love our money and to covet the money of those who are more affluent. We might find it possible to leave a generous tip at Christmas, during Lent or even Easter, or to hand a homeless person some money to get a place . It would be quite another thing to sell our house and to put the proceeds in the church offering plate. A unity of heart and soul that leads to generous sharing of possessions is truly unity. They had an intense sense of responsibility for one another. The sharing of things in common wasn’t the result of legislation; it was completely spontaneous. It is not when the law compels us to share but when the heart moves us to share that we become Christians in action.

A Church is a community of believers; a people committed to the ideals established by Christ, their Master. It is a community of people animated by love and care. It is a natural place for mercy and compassion. If there exists any Church where people do not feel a sense of belonging or still feel oppressed and excluded, then something is wrong. If people are hated outside, they should take refuge in the love that exists in the Church. Where love is missing, Christ is equally missing. Christians are those who have overcome the greed of the world. They love without prejudice.

Unfortunately, there are individuals who are forced to accept that they have a second place in the Church of Christ simply because they come from a far away tribe, or just coming to join us after we have finished ‘building’. A tribe doesn’t a person better. Again, there are equally others who just look at those in different groups in the Church as derailed and complicated fellows; and that God understands when they are satisfied with just coming to worship without identifying with any groups. We must not only have a community spirit. We have to promote it. Recall how Jesus emphasized the importance of Christian unity in his prayer in John 17:20-23: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me.” Painfully, some people are promoters of division. They don’t even know the difference between the church and the larger world.

The Gospel of today (John 20:19-31) presents the doubt of Thomas concerning the resurrection of Jesus. The first appearance of our Lord in the Upper Room was to only ten of the Apostles; Thomas wasn’t there. The reason for his absence is unknown; but it is likely because of his negative mindset. In three different passages of the Gospel, Thomas is shown as being negative to life. When the news came to Our Lord about the death of Lazarus, Thomas wanted to go and to die with him. Later on, when Jesus said He would return again to the Father and prepare a place for His Apostles, Thomas’ doleful answer was that he knew not where Jesus was going, nor did he himself know the way.

As soon as the other Apostles became convinced of the resurrection, they told Thomas. Thomas didn’t say he refused to believe but was unable to believe until he had some experimental proof of the resurrection. The testimonies of ten competent friends weren’t enough to convince him. Rather, he enumerated the conditions of his belief.

Even though Thomas had lived with Jesus for almost three years and heard His promise that He would rise again from the dead, he still said, ‘Unless I can see his wounds and touch him, I will not believe’ (John 20:25). Did Jesus turn His back on Thomas because of his doubts? No. He never rejects a sincere, doubting heart. Jesus showed up in person and resolved all of Thomas’ doubts. And as we read His word and seek His face, He will gently put our doubts to rest too. When we stop living in the ‘sense’ realm and learn to ‘walk by faith,’ our doubts will begin to die (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Your doubt doesn’t reduce God but can reduce what God can do for you. Again, there are blessings meant for the community, and until you align yourself with the community, you won’t receive such blessings. Jesus didn’t bother to prove Himself privately to Thomas. Thomas had to join the community to receive His blessing from the risen Lord. Like Thomas, there are some of us who are not open to God, but we want Him to come prove Himself to us in our closet. Our sadness clouds the faith channel in us, and we pray and talk as though God were to prove a point of His existence to us. What excludes you from divine presence deprives you of your blessings. It makes you a slave to yourself. Thomas remains a slave to his own anger and pain and doubt until he joined his community where God’s presence was made available. When you take away yourself, you may not know what you should know, placing yourself outside the boundary of grace. Sometimes, we feel God is the problem, but no, we are the problem. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. O blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as fount of mercy for us…I trust in you (3×). For the sake of His sorrowful passion..Have mercy on us and on the whole world. Heal our world and save the vine planted by you. Bless and protect us through the same Christ Our Lord Amen. Happy Divine Mercy Sunday.

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