As the years pass and we age, it feels as though the years are getting shorter. Such is life; however, I think that many of us seldom stop to reflect on what this implies. The swift passage of time means that we cannot attach our hearts to anything in this world because today it's ours, and tomorrow it can be taken from us, or rather, we are taken from it. What will remain then?
"Beloved, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,... everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith." This was told to us by Saint John in today's second reading. It means that anyone who believes that Jesus rose from the dead overcomes the world. Here, the word 'world' signifies everything that goes against God's will for us; just as Jesus with his resurrection conquered evil, sin, death, hatred... so we conquer with him if we believe in him. Am I/are you part of this victory of Jesus or not?
The first Christians, so strong was their experience of Jesus risen from the dead, regarded what belongs to this world only as a means to live and to help others, not as slaves to it, for 'The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.
There was no needy person among them; for those who owned land or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.' A true Christian is one who lives his faith by using what he has for the good of himself and others, but ties his heart only to what lasts forever.
Today's psalm tells us 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.' Jesus is this Cornerstone, a stone that binds the building together so that it will not collapse, and this building is my life and your life, the Church, and the society of humankind. Above all, this building, without Jesus, not only collapses but is utterly destroyed, is all of humanity which, unfortunately, as we see in our times, the person who rejects Jesus risen from the dead is a person who destroys not God but humanity itself.
In today's Gospel, we see that it was the First Day of the Week when Jesus appeared to the Apostles, that is, Sunday, and the first and greatest gift he gives them is peace or tranquility. Jesus, because he is God, does not rise from the dead angry to retaliate against those who subjected him to such a violent death, but on the contrary, he is so filled with peace that it overflows from him onto all humanity; and necessarily linked to Jesus' true peace is the forgiveness of sins. The sacrament of Forgiveness or confession was not invented by some Pope or saint, nor by priests, but is a gift from the Risen One to restore to us the peace we lose through sin: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
Today's Gospel also speaks of something else, not only important for our Faith but necessary: 'Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.' How far from the truth it is to say that you do not need to go to Church to pray! Thomas, because he was not with his companions, could not believe. Likewise, one cannot believe if not in the Christian community, if one does not heed Jesus' command when he tells us 'Do this in memory of me'. True Faith is not just believing that God exists somewhere up there; true Faith is an experience of God's love that one feels the need to celebrate with the Christian community and to live in one's daily life in love. Let us ask ourselves: today, on this Sunday of Divine Mercy, how much do I believe that I cannot have a true experience of God's Love and Mercy without the Sacraments of Forgiveness/Confession and the Mass/Eucharist.
We ask you, Lord, help us never to reject the experience of your power risen from the dead, which experience we live first and foremost in the sacraments of the Mass and in your sacrament of Forgiveness. Amen.
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