Every second Sunday of Easter we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday. As suggested by the link below,
http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Divine_Mercy_Su.htm
we can read the following catholic info;
The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ Himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina.
This time the apostles were so scared for their lives. No more Jesus they thought. they were in a room with doors totally locked. Then suddenly Jesus came in from the walls and stood amidst all of them there. The consoling words were given; "Peace be with you"
- With these words, Jesus reassured them of well being and personal convenience because they were too scared and because he is already there.
- With these words, Jesus made vivid that there is already union with God who formerly hates them.
- With these words, Jesus gave them subjective peace; the feeling that God is no longer hating but forgiving. He can now remove sins, so instead of "Shame on you!" the word given is "peace be unto you".
- Jesus understood that there is a hostile world of unbeliever waiting to persecute them for their belief so He wants them to be prepared by giving them a peace that comes from Him.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
This is only for the apostles and those anointed after they died. Not everyone can forgive sins against God. if somebody hurts you, you can but unless a minister, we cannot absolve anyone from sins. They need to repent personally to God and go to confession. Only the priest representing God can absolve sins by the fact that God already forgave the person. Confession is a sacrament. It is the humane manifestation of divine forgiveness which we receive by directly confessing it to God but to assure us of the ecclesiastical forgiveness as a human person and as a manifestation, we need to go to Church and confess to someone anointed to forgive sins.
You see mercy can only be attained when there is peace but the effect of mercy is forgiveness. A person who is at peace with God can feel mercy towards others and thus be capable of forgiving those who made mistakes in the past.
Receive the Holy Spirit.--- A foretaste of the Pentecost/ Temporary infusion of the Paraclete
_____________________________________________________
Now I want to zero into the story of Thomas. I consider it a plan of God. Thomas was intended to be absent at the time Jesus showed himself to the apostles for a reason. It is Jesus' opportunity to show a deep mercy and an opportunity to let us know how we can distinguish him in heaven. it is like telling us "Hey you can see me in heaven immediately because I am the only one among all persons there who has a mark of nails in my hands."
they kept telling Thomas but Thomas refused to believe. he is convinced that Jesus is dead. But he is honest. He is firm to scientific evidence. I find him very scientific and it goes to show that Thomas is aware of everything, in his sanity all those times. Even if 100 are united in one testimony but he did not experience materially, he will doubt. other theories suggest that it is because of Thomas' temperament and frustrations because he expect Jesus to be a liberator of Israel. Either way, somethings are really wrong with Thomas and I would like to enumerate them one by one.
1. He did not pay heed to what Christ said during the time He is alive. Even doubted the Old testament.
2. He did not regard the testimony of the ten apostles who were men of integrity.
3. He tempted Jesus and limited Christ to the only method he knows which is science.
4. His offense gave discouragement to the apostles. All things went wrong with Thomas.
But I like to pinpoint that it was not only Thomas who doubted the Resurrection. Mk 16: 9-14 gives us a glimpse of how the apostles doubted. There is no inferiority to Thomas' faith. Jesus did not say more blessed are those, He only said "Blessed are those who believe yet did not see" So it is an approval of Jesus to Thomas not a rebuke. Both parties are blessed. If the other group is more blessed then the only one who is more blessed is John because he remained with Jesus up to his death and believed the resurrection without seeing it as read in last Sunday's Gospel.
Application;
What can we learn from Thomas experience?
1. We should mark how much Christians may loose by not regularly attending the assemblies of God's people {particularly the Mass}. Thomas absented with no good reason. The comfort you need might be there.
- If Jesus appeared during the Sunday Holy Mass but you weren't there, you might have missed something in your life.
2. How kind and merciful Jesus is to dull and slow believers. There is no record in the other gospels how patient and loving Christ is to this ungentle and stubborn child.
- I think this is why it is read during Divine Mercy Sunday. the mercy of Jesus to dull apostles and believers is limitless. there is no heroic act done by Thomas in all the gospel stories. It was only after the encounter with the Risen Lord. He proclaimed the greatest proclamation that venerates Jesus.
3. Corollary to the proclamation of Thomas after the encounter, how Christ was addressed by a disciple as "God" without rebuke and rejection and correction. A testimony of His divinity that He accepted and never refused. the divinity of Christ is one fundamental truth of faith.
- It was planned by Jesus so we can really say like Thomas after our encounter with Him in the Easter Vigil "My Lord and My God." I hope we all shout to the world all Easter long that Jesus is our God and we are children of the Easter Morning.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Divine_Mercy_Su.htm
we can read the following catholic info;
The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ Himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina.
A plenary indulgence (the forgiveness of all temporal punishment resulting from sins that have already been confessed) is granted on the Feast of Divine Mercy if to all the faithful who go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and "in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. 'Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!')."
A partial indulgence (the remission of some temporal punishment from sin) is granted to the faithful "who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation."
Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska is a Polish nun, mystic and visionary who is now a saint because of the Divine Mercy Devotion. The one we pray in Channel 2 every 3pm.
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This Sunday I want to talk a little about the Divine Mercy and inject once in a while some pondered thoughts from today s Gospel reading. The Gospel for Divine Mercy is taken from John 20: 19-31
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
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- With these words, Jesus reassured them of well being and personal convenience because they were too scared and because he is already there.
- With these words, Jesus made vivid that there is already union with God who formerly hates them.
- With these words, Jesus gave them subjective peace; the feeling that God is no longer hating but forgiving. He can now remove sins, so instead of "Shame on you!" the word given is "peace be unto you".
- Jesus understood that there is a hostile world of unbeliever waiting to persecute them for their belief so He wants them to be prepared by giving them a peace that comes from Him.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
This is only for the apostles and those anointed after they died. Not everyone can forgive sins against God. if somebody hurts you, you can but unless a minister, we cannot absolve anyone from sins. They need to repent personally to God and go to confession. Only the priest representing God can absolve sins by the fact that God already forgave the person. Confession is a sacrament. It is the humane manifestation of divine forgiveness which we receive by directly confessing it to God but to assure us of the ecclesiastical forgiveness as a human person and as a manifestation, we need to go to Church and confess to someone anointed to forgive sins.
You see mercy can only be attained when there is peace but the effect of mercy is forgiveness. A person who is at peace with God can feel mercy towards others and thus be capable of forgiving those who made mistakes in the past.
Receive the Holy Spirit.--- A foretaste of the Pentecost/ Temporary infusion of the Paraclete
_____________________________________________________
Now I want to zero into the story of Thomas. I consider it a plan of God. Thomas was intended to be absent at the time Jesus showed himself to the apostles for a reason. It is Jesus' opportunity to show a deep mercy and an opportunity to let us know how we can distinguish him in heaven. it is like telling us "Hey you can see me in heaven immediately because I am the only one among all persons there who has a mark of nails in my hands."
they kept telling Thomas but Thomas refused to believe. he is convinced that Jesus is dead. But he is honest. He is firm to scientific evidence. I find him very scientific and it goes to show that Thomas is aware of everything, in his sanity all those times. Even if 100 are united in one testimony but he did not experience materially, he will doubt. other theories suggest that it is because of Thomas' temperament and frustrations because he expect Jesus to be a liberator of Israel. Either way, somethings are really wrong with Thomas and I would like to enumerate them one by one.
1. He did not pay heed to what Christ said during the time He is alive. Even doubted the Old testament.
2. He did not regard the testimony of the ten apostles who were men of integrity.
3. He tempted Jesus and limited Christ to the only method he knows which is science.
4. His offense gave discouragement to the apostles. All things went wrong with Thomas.
But I like to pinpoint that it was not only Thomas who doubted the Resurrection. Mk 16: 9-14 gives us a glimpse of how the apostles doubted. There is no inferiority to Thomas' faith. Jesus did not say more blessed are those, He only said "Blessed are those who believe yet did not see" So it is an approval of Jesus to Thomas not a rebuke. Both parties are blessed. If the other group is more blessed then the only one who is more blessed is John because he remained with Jesus up to his death and believed the resurrection without seeing it as read in last Sunday's Gospel.
Application;
What can we learn from Thomas experience?
1. We should mark how much Christians may loose by not regularly attending the assemblies of God's people {particularly the Mass}. Thomas absented with no good reason. The comfort you need might be there.
- If Jesus appeared during the Sunday Holy Mass but you weren't there, you might have missed something in your life.
2. How kind and merciful Jesus is to dull and slow believers. There is no record in the other gospels how patient and loving Christ is to this ungentle and stubborn child.
- I think this is why it is read during Divine Mercy Sunday. the mercy of Jesus to dull apostles and believers is limitless. there is no heroic act done by Thomas in all the gospel stories. It was only after the encounter with the Risen Lord. He proclaimed the greatest proclamation that venerates Jesus.
3. Corollary to the proclamation of Thomas after the encounter, how Christ was addressed by a disciple as "God" without rebuke and rejection and correction. A testimony of His divinity that He accepted and never refused. the divinity of Christ is one fundamental truth of faith.
- It was planned by Jesus so we can really say like Thomas after our encounter with Him in the Easter Vigil "My Lord and My God." I hope we all shout to the world all Easter long that Jesus is our God and we are children of the Easter Morning.
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