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. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property 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
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24)
Refrain: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
1) Let the house of Israel say, "His mercy endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say, "His mercy endures forever."
Let those who fear the Lord say, "His mercy endures forever."
Refrain: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
2) I was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me.
My strength and my courage is the Lord, and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory in the tents of the just:
Refrain: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
3) The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.
Refrain: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.
Second Reading (1 John 5: 1-6)
Beloved: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth.
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. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
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.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
(Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.
The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of ICEL. This resource is available at a discount through the Homiletic Resource Center.)
"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,..." For fear of the Jews.... Who were the disciples afraid of, really? Certainly the leaders of the Jews, who might seek them out to eliminate all of Jesus' followers. Or perhaps the leaders believed that once Jesus was dead, his movement would just fade away. We will never know for sure, but perhaps one of the Jews they feared was Jesus himself.
Think about it. They knew that one of their number had betrayed Jesus while others had denied him, run away, and abandoned him to face his shameful and humiliating death alone. They had not shown any hint of loyalty, bravery or love for Jesus when he most needed it. After all, it was the women and Nicodemus who made the initial hasty arrangements for Jesus' body after his death. Now these same women returned from the tomb with the amazing news that Jesus was not dead, he had risen. It is easy to imagine that their response to the good news of the women might have initially been to feel ashamed, anxious, even afraid.
Think about the last person you disappointed or let down. You weren't exactly eager to see them again for fear of what the encounter might bring. Now try to imagine what the disciples were thinking and feeling in that room, hiding behind those locked doors. The friend they had betrayed, denied, abandoned, the one they had left to die alone was now alive, walking around, and might possibly be coming to see them. This may have sounded more like alarming news than good news.
And so they are hiding away, behind closed doors; fearful, anxious, no doubt concerned about the Jews, but also about what Jesus may say or do to them. Then, suddenly, he is in their midst, he is standing among them. It appears that he understands their anxiety, their shame and fear, for the first words out of his mouth are, "Peace be with you." Jesus' initial reaction is to reassure them. Don't worry, he says, in effect. I'm not angry, upset with you. It's all right. I'm not holding a grudge.
If someone has sinned, and sinned terribly, then they may also be afraid to face the Lord. Perhaps there are some, some whom you may even know, who are not with us today out of shame and fear. And then again, perhaps they have sinned against someone else and it takes that person's forgiveness to make them believe that God can also forgive them.
- There is a story told about a woman whose daughter had been murdered in cold blood and who could not bring herself to forgive the murderer. In the months that followed the awful event, she harbored the anger in her soul until the loving and caring person she once had been had changed into someone totally different. Finally, one day, she became aware of the change and decided to do something about it. She bought a bible, wrote a note of forgiveness in the front of it and mailed it to the murderer. When he received it, he finally could come to believe that he could go on from that event and change his life. Now he could believe in God's forgiveness, because she had first forgiven him.
Our Lord empowered the disciples to forgive sins, which only God could do. But we can forgive one another because our sins have been forgiven. After all, those are the words of the Lord's Prayer: forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. If we forgive one another, we can be certain that God will forgive them as well. And perhaps the forgiveness we give to one another helps others to feel that forgiveness, as the murderer in the story believed.
Consider our Lord's first words from the cross as Luke has recorded them: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing". I believe that those words were directed not at the few men who physically nailed him to the cross, but to all of us whose sins put him there. Sometimes we may not realize what impact our sins have had on others, so we don't know what we are doing. There is a song called "It Is Well With My Soul" and one of the verses contains these words: "My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more." And so he took our sins upon himself and forgave us, at the height of his agony and suffering, so that his Father would then also forgive us.
Forgiveness is at the heart of Christianity, and I have chosen that word on purpose, for it resides where love resides: in our hearts. Without forgiveness, only anger, resentment, jealousy and other similar feelings can dwell in our hearts. And there is no room for love when any of these things are present, as the woman in our story realized. C. S. Lewis relates that hell is populated by people who move in, get angry with their neighbors and move away. They prefer to wallow in their resentment, anger and loneliness than to forgive.
Sometimes we may need to be forgiven before we can accomplish wonderful deeds. Perhaps the greater the sin, the greater the dedication once those sins have been forgiven. Consider the apostles. Peter denied his Master and wept bitterly over it. Yet our Lord forgave him and he became the foundation of the church. Christians in India still trace their roots to the apostle Thomas who doubted, believed, was forgiven and then worked tirelessly there to spread the gospel. The other apostles were mere fishermen, and yet, once forgiven and transformed by the Spirit, they performed miracles in Christ's name and converted many to Christianity. We too can perform miracles, miracles of love and forgiveness, just like the woman in the story. We will look more deeply at these little miracles next week.
There is a gravestone in a cemetery near New York which has no name or dates on it; only one word: Forgiven. We might call it, not the tomb of the unknown soldier, but the tomb of the unknown sinner. And it could be anyone, all or each of us. Sometimes our sins are scarlet enough to see, or loud enough to hear, but only God knows the heart and its darkness; only God can flood it with light. And he does, with that single word, "forgiven".
Once forgiven, we may attain the peace with which Christ greets his disciples. Our Lord never greets them with the word "peace" until after the Resurrection has been accomplished. In John's gospel, "peace" is intimately connected to Jesus' passion and death. Jesus had to relinquish his own spirit on the cross before he could bring the Spirit, and the peace which accompanies the Spirit.
"As the Father has sent me, so do I send you", into the world at peace, empowered by the Spirit, forgiven...and forgiving.
(Copyright 2009 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan with a little help from the friend noted above. Permission is freely granted for use, in whole or in part, in oral presentations. For permission to use in writing, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net.)
Lord Jesus, you became one like us to enter into our suffering. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you asked the Father to forgive us as you hung upon the cross. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you have taught us to forgive one another, as you have forgiven us. Lord, have mercy.
The Mass is ended. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and be reconciled with one another.
Celebrant: Christ took on human flesh and became one like us so that, through his suffering, death and resurrection, he could bring us to eternal life. Because he understands our needs, as only a brother could, we can confidently bring our needs to the Father knowing that he will intercede for us.
Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Lord, teach us to forgive."
That the leaders of the Church may be compassionate ministers of reconciliation, we pray to the Lord.
That the leaders of all nations will do all in their power to end the wars in Ukraine and Israel, we pray to the Lord.
That all of those whom we have welcomed into the Church at Easter will be a sign of Christ's continued presence among us, we pray to the Lord.
That all those whose lives have been scarred by division, dysfunction or abuse may find healing in the wounds of Christ, we pray to the Lord.
That all persecuted Christians will be strengthened in their faith and an example to non-believers, we pray to the Lord.
For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Gracious Father, your Son brought forgiveness to a world separated from you by sin. Grant us the grace of your Spirit so that, as he brought reconciliation to earth, we may bring reconciliation to one another. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.