This Sunday we continue to celebrate Easter Day.  In fact each day for eight days we celebrate the one Easter Day.  Father Frank O’Loughlin has a more thorough explanation of Sunday as the day of resurrection in this weeks newsletter. He goes into detail about the significance of Sunday and the number eight!

The gospel for the octave of Easter is the same each year, it does not change from year A, B, or C.   Each year we read John 20:19-31.  The gospel passage talks of the disciples gathered in fear in a closed room.  John tells us, “Jesus came and stood among them.  He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ ”  So, in this gospel Jesus is the one who breaks through the closed doors of fear and death and stands among the disciples with the gift of peace.  He then commissions them to go out and do the same: bring forgiveness and peace.

Christianity is created by the day of the resurrection.  Jesus Christ is the one who breaks through the darkness of death and comes back from the grave with the gifts of peace and reconciliation.  These are the first words that are on the lips of the risen Lord.  This same gospel tells us that he appeared to them eight days later with the same words: ‘peace be with you’.  This time they are addressed specifically to Thomas, who expressed incredulity that the Lord could be risen from the dead!  Once again peace and forgiveness are the words and actions given by Jesus to his disciples.  It is understandable that Pope John Paul II called this Sunday, Divine Mercy.  Not a day, specifically to confess our sins, but a day to rejoice in the Lord’s return.  It is the Sunday that shines forth with the peace and forgiveness that Christ brings back from the tomb.

Christians continue today to celebrate the day of resurrection and its gift and call to peace and reconciliation.  The gift and call of peace and reconciliation is to the whole world and the whole of creation.  Christians are not the ‘sole beneficiaries’ of such gifts.  They are the first witnesses to the resurrection and are missioned with going out to the whole world to ‘tell the good news.’ Christians have a call to look on the world in the same way that Christ did.  The body of Christ is entrusted with the same mission as the head!  Bear witness to peace and reconciliation.  Work for the things that are the fruits of the resurrection.  And before all else, allow the peace and mercy of God to enter your own life.  Open the closed doors of your hearts and minds and allow the peace and mercy of God to enter into those trouble places that hold us back.  The gift received can become the gift proclaimed.  Our world is in need of the peace of Christ now as much as ever.

Fr Brendan