Feed My Lambs
by Bishop
William K. Weigand
March 22, 2008
Christ’s Easter victory becomes our victory
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.” And it continues for eight weeks! “Jesus has risen as he said,” and has triumphed over sin and death. He has opened the floodgates of God’s mercy for us — and for all humanity. In fact, the octave of Easter (second Sunday) is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Our Savior has won our redemption and applies its fruits to us in baptism, through which we are washed clean, and are born to a new life as sons and daughters of God, sharing even now in the Divine life. All that is required is that we believe and that we come to Jesus to receive — and that we keep coming to Jesus. Alleluia, indeed!
Jesus “descended into hell” to apply the Divine Mercy even to people of faith of the Old Testament. (Mary had already received God’s mercy, in anticipation of the merits of Christ, when “conceived without sin.”) For us in the New Testament, even our sins committed after baptism are not a permanent obstacle. As we hear in the Gospel of the second Sunday of Easter, the Risen Jesus appears to the apostles locked in the “upper room,” breathes on them and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” (Jn 20:21-23)
Easter joy springs from the fact that our sins do not define us. Our sins can be forgiven, so we have new hope. If we keep coming to Jesus in the Mass and the sacraments, if we keep striving to live the “new life” with power and grace “from above,” we can gradually move toward holiness and to the fullness of life with God in heaven. It is all because we have a Risen Savior, in whose mercy we can trust. In fact, Easter and the Paschal Mystery are all about God’s mercy.
The second Sunday also gives us the witness of the once “doubting Thomas.” Thomas was the only one of the eleven who had the courage to leave the upper room. The others had locked themselves in for fear that they would be crucified next. It was also Thomas who had professed his courage weeks earlier after Jesus had three times forewarned them of his pending passion and death: “Let us also go to die with him” (John 11:16). And it was Thomas who would make the most profound profession of faith when he saw and touched the Risen Lord: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
The third Sunday of Easter will include Peter’s proclamation (Acts 2:14-33) and Luke’s beautiful account of the two disciples from the nearby town of Emmaus who meet the Risen Lord on their way home, but do not recognize him until “he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him; whereupon he vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-32). They exclaimed: “Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke to us about the Scriptures on the road?” Not only for the disciples then, but also for all us, Jesus will always be present us in the Sacred Scriptures and the “breaking of the bread” (the Eucharist).
The fourth, fifth and sixth Sundays will be from John 10:1-10; 14:1-12; and 14:15-21, as the Risen Jesus prepares the apostles for his Ascension into heaven (seventh Sunday). He comforts his disciples, saying “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. I am going to prepare a place for you and then I shall return to take you with me.” (John 14:1-3). And he promises them that he will “send the Holy Spirit from on high” (John 14:16), which we celebrate on Pentecost (the eighth Sunday). Thus, we will conclude the Easter season and continue our journey of faith in Ordinary time.
Throughout these eight weeks of Easter, may the Risen Lord’s mercy inundate us with his forgiveness and victorious new life. Happy Easter!
