Deacon Thuong Hoang
CHRIST IS RISEN
Secon Sunday of Easter - Year A
Christ has risen! Alleluia, alleluia!
Let us greet each other on the persons sitting next to you by saying: Christ has risen! Alleluia, alleluia.
Today we celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Easter, also known as the Divine Mercy Sunday.
Do you know why today is the extraordinary Day of God’s mercy for us?
There are 2 reasons:
1-Today is the pinnacle of the last 8 days – from last Sunday Easter to today the divine mercy Sunday. These 8 days period is called The Octave of Easter.
- During the last 8 days, we celebrate each day as a little Easter Sunday because it is considered as one continuous celebration of Easter.
- The Octave – 8 days symbolize a new creation and eternity as Christ’s resurrection marks the beginning of a new, glorified life in heaven.
2- Because Jesus told Saint Faustina that: “I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the feast of Mercy.”
- Jesus promised to Saint Faustina that on the Divine Mercy Sunday:
- whoever attends mass today and receives communion in the state of grace
- Or go to confession and receive communion today
-> will receive the same grace at their baptism. It means we shall obtain a complete forgiveness and no temporal punishment in purgatory. It means we will go straight to heaven, if the Lord calls us home today.
-When do we start celebrating the 2nd Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday?
-> On April 30, 2000 Saint Pope John Paul II made today the Divine Mercy Sunday as part of our liturgical calendar.
- Saint Faustina was also canonized on that same day. She became the first saint of the third millennium.
- Saint Faustina received the vision of Jesus
-with the right hand giving out blessing
-and the left hand pointing to his heart which has 2 rays of lights coming out
-> one is red & the other is pale just like this one picture à pointing to it.
Jesus asked her to paint an image of him as following:
“Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature:
“Jesus, I trust in You.” I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world.”
In her diary, Saint Faustina’s confessor priest asked her to ask Jesus to explain the meaning of these 2 rays to her. She said: Yes Fr, I will ask Jesus next time I see him.
-> How many of us have a privilege to have an appointment with Jesus like Saint Faustina?
The next time Jesus explained to her:
-The white color ray represents water found in the sacrament of baptism which makes our soul righteous.
-The red color ray represents blood in the sacrament of the Eucharist which is food for our soul.
-> So, water and blood are pouring out from the heart of Jesus
-to make us righteous and
-food for our souls.
-> just as we need water & food for our body, we also need water and blood from the heart of Jesus for our soul.
Baptism last week: We witnessed 25 of our brothers and sisters last week at our vigil Easter mass on Saturday night to receive the baptism. It was unforgettable and, transformative, and glorious night for them and for those of us who were attending to see them submerged in the holy water front in the back of the church.
Yes, their sins were forgiven.
Yes, they became a Catholic like us.
Yes, they can be at the table with the Lord with us today here and now.
More importantly, they became a new creation – a new creation.
What does it mean?
Explanation:
Remember how God created Eve in the garden. He put Adam falling into a deep sleep and he took one of the ribs of Adam to make Eve. Adam woke up and see Eve for the first time. He said: “Finally, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. He called her Eve because she the mother of all living things.”
Jesus is the new Adam. We know a new life coming when a woman is giving birth to a baby with water and blood shedding from her body. Both water and blood shed out of Jesus’s side when the soldier pierced his side. This action gives birth to the new Eve – the church. Who is the church? We are.
So, through the water-the pale ray coming out from Jesus’s heart, we become a new creation. Jesus once reassured with Nicodemus that: “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit…you must be born again.”
This is why through the sacrament of the baptism Jesus instituted to send the disciples going out to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teach what he taught them.
How do we sustain and maintain the health of our body? We eat, drink and exercise. We do not just eat, drink, and exercise one day but we do it every day. The same apply to our soul. We need God to fill our soul daily. We need to continue encountering Jesus daily and weekly, so our soul will not be malnourished.
How and where and when can we do that?
The Gospel reading today reveals to us that we can continue to encounter our risen Lord, Jesus on Sunday when we gather here to worship God.
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them. “Peace be with you” when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”
What is the first day of the week? That is the last Sunday which is the third day after Jesus died on the cross on Friday.
“Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving but believe.”
What is a week later? That is today. Today is also Sunday but one week from the last Easter Sunday.
-> Did you see what I see?
Our risen Lord appeared to the disciples on Sunday after Sunday. Now we see why the mother church wants us to gather here on Sunday because this is how, where and when we too can encounter our risen Lord.
Thomas was not with other disciples on the first Sunday, he did not encounter the Risen Lord because he is not with his community of faith. However, he was with them on the following Sunday, with his community of faith he encountered the Risen Lord in a profound way that he had to kneel and exclaim: “My Lord and My God”
As we come up later to receive communion, let us imitate St. Thomas to kneel and receive him on our tongue by saying out loud “Amen” and saying silently in our mind: “My Lord and My God.”
-> Therefore, we too need to gather here with our community of faith at St Mark if we desire to encounter our Risen Lord, Jesus!!!
This is why we go to church on Sunday instead of staying at home watching the mass on Tv or on your phone. Jesus said: “for where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt 18:20)
Did we see the transformation in the disciples after they encounter the Risen Lord?
They were no longer fearful but went out courageously to proclaim the Good News because suffering and death have no more power over them. As a matter of fact, the 11 disciples were all laying down their life to testify that Jesus Christ has risen from the death.
Thomas went all the way to India to lay down his life to testify for the Good News. Some of our brothers and sisters I talked to came from India are the fruit of Thomas’s precious blood.
In conclusion:
As we receive God’s Divine Mercy today, all our sins and temporal punishments are wiped out completely. We should go forward to become Christ for others by forgiving them because Jesus taught us: “Be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful.” Jesus commissions us the same way he commissions the disciples: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Let us pray together the summary of the Divine Mercy chaplet for peace in the world:
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your Dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. (3x)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.