2nd Sunday of Easter Year A (Divine Mercy Sunday): Homily by Fr. Isaac Chima
Theme: The Qualities of a Community whose Christ is risen.
Readings: Acts 2:24–47; 1Pet 1:3–9; Jn 20:19–31
Dear friends, today, the church invites us to learn the qualities of a community whose Christ has risen from the dead. She also challenges us to be transformed into a community that forgives, loves and cares for its members.
Before the death and resurrection of Jesus, His disciples lived like every other person, with their daily selfish passions and struggles for who will be the greatest among them and who will sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in His glory. But the resurrection of Christ made a positive impact on this community of disciples. It transformed them into a community that became a model of a good community, it transformed them into a community that was admired by other people in the society. From the first reading of today, we learnt that the community of disciples began to live a communal life, a life characterized by peace, love, mutual help, and unselfishness. The reading said: “And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people.”
We can say that the disciples allowed themselves to be transformed by the power of the resurrection of Christ and by the gift of peace and mercy given to them by Christ in the gospel of today. They allowed the power of Christ’s resurrection to penetrate their lives and to drive away their selfishness and, then, restore their God-given nature. In the second reading, St Peter made reference to this transformative power of Christ’s resurrection when he said, “by his great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Dear brothers and sister, our Christ has resurrected, we have celebrated his resurrection with great songs of Alleluia and He has also blessed us with the gift of peace. However, taking a sincere look at our families and our communities, one would notice that they fall short of the qualities that the early Christian community possessed. What, then, could be said to be our problem? Why are our communities still reflecting hatred, injustice, lack of help for the needy, and other unchristian behaviors? Why are our families, our relationships, and our individual lives yet to reflect the light of the resurrection of Christ? Why are we still lacking peace, love and forgiveness in our relationships with others even when our Christ has resurrected? Why do some people still live as if our Christ has not risen from the dead?
When the Disciples of Christ allowed their lives to be transformed by the resurrection of Christ, their community became a place of constant visit by Christ as we read in the gospel of today. The qualities which the disciples manifested made their communities attractive to Christ.
Dear friends, if you want your lives, your families and your communities to attract the constant presence of Christ, you have to live according to those qualities that characterized the early Christian communities as we saw in the first reading.
Today, the church also shows us another wonderful way to make our families and lives attractive to Jesus; it is the way of Mercy. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, a day the Church wants us to contemplate on the great mercy of God for us His creatures. Our God is a merciful God, a God who loved us even while we were still sinners, a God who forgave us without conditions. He is a God who corrects with love and without condemning the offender.
In the Gospel of today, Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them the gift of peace and the breath of Mercy. He forgave those who deserted him in his time of suffering and, then, entrusted them and us with the mission of reconciliation through mercy.
If you want your life to attract the presence of Christ, you must embrace the mercy of God by coming out of your sins, by drinking from the ocean of God’s mercy and, then, by extending mercy to those who have offended you. In fact, you must be as merciful as the Father. Also, if you want your family to be a place of regular visit by Christ, you must make it a peaceful home founded on mercy and forgiveness of offenders. Christ does not live in a heart that plans evil or vengeance; also, He does not live in a family where trouble is the order of the day, a family where peace and love are lacking. Without forgiveness and mercy, there will not be lasting peace and love. A community or family without peace and love cannot really be called Christian.
Therefore, let us allow our lives and our families to be recreated by the power of the resurrection of Christ. Let us make our Christian communities, families and relationships abodes of love, mercy, and mutual help. When our families, communities and relationships reflect peace, love, and mutual help, our lives will be able to attract the presence of Christ, just as the early Christians attracted the presence of the risen Christ in the gospel of today.
Happy Sunday
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima