Allelujah!! Allelujah!! He is (still) Risen!!
Our readings for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday and, colloquially, as Rebound Sunday, are here.
These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from Cycle 2014. The Mercy Sunday masses we are visiting are:
- April 27, 2014 Cycle A, Noon & 7PM Masses
______
The poem Fr Dennis references is:
- i thank You God for most this amazing by e.e. cummings, April 27, 2014 Cycle A
In 2014, we reflected that —
- The story of “Doubting Thomas” is one of the most familiar from the Christian gospels, and it is easy to identify with Thomas. Most of us have Thomas-like doubts about God, God’s Presence, and ourselves.
- The apostles are in the upper room because
- they are in fear of the other Jews (the religious leadership, who had just murdered Jesus through the crucifixion),
- the upper room is a safe haven, a Jerusalem safehouse as it were,
- the upper room is the last place all the apostles were gathered with Jesus, and
- the upper room hosted the Last Supper, the place of the Institution of the Eucharist
- Jesus meets them in peace in this place. You can almost imagine the apostles somewhat teasing Thomas — “We saw the Lord [and you didn’t]!”
- RL’s take is that Thomas was so wounded from the emotional journey of being the one to exhort that they go with Jesus to Jerusalem, even if they might die, to watching it all “end” horribly and running away as they all did. That it all hurt too much. He couldn’t deal with any more uncertainty, so he withheld himself from the thought of Jesus’ return. Also, it is as if Jesus is saying everything I said and did in this place, prior to these wounds, is still true with the resurrected wounds. 🙂 Anyway, that is RL’s take on Thomas and place. 🙂
- In the gospel story, Jesus offers “Peace” and reassurance (“Don’t be afraid”) to his friends. (rl – In one of the upper room account (Luke 21:41), Jesus asks, “Do we have anything to eat?” I imagine him looking around, maybe rubbing his belly, and looking for the chow.)
- The image of the upper room is one in which Jesus gave himself completely in the bread and wine, in death, and the resurrection … and us? what do we do? … or be?? This universal call in Christ, to be with each other “in the upper room” — what is it?
- The early Jewish disciples / first unlabeled Christians? The response was to sell everything they had and share with each other in community.
- Nowadays? We try to help each other.
- e.e. cummings was a rebel in many ways, but particularly in how he found that people took their lives for granted, when, in truth, all we have to do is look around at the world and let the gift of it all fill us.
- And so e.e. cummings offers this song of praise in i thank You God for most this amazing poem, humble and exuberant at the same time, “how should tasting touching hearing seeing // breathing any–lifted from the no // of all nothing–human merely being // doubt unimaginable You?
- We trust in God, believe in God, follow Jesus and his way of service to others … by God’s Mercy.
In the hometown of Padre Pio, Pietrelcina, Italy, one of the churches has stations of the cross composed of scenes from the Resurrection. Our image today is one of those, depicting the scene in the Upper Room with Thomas to one side … and that basket of fish in the Light of the Resurrected Christ. Pax Vobis or “Peace be with you” can be seen in the upper right of the image.
The Surest Sign 