Allelujah!! Allelujah!! He is Risen!! (Enjoy! — it’s the last one as we end the Octave of Easter — back to regular “Thanks be to God!” and no “Allelujah!”s at the dismissal next Sunday.)
Our readings for this Second Sunday of Easter, also known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy, are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040724.cfm). So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will be from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account.
Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from two different Cycle B years. The Second Sunday of Easters we are visiting are the Masses of:
- April 8, 2018 Noon
- April 12, 2015 5PM
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The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:
- Six Inches by Jeff Coomer, Noon Mass on April 8, 2018 Cycle B
- April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur, 8:30 Mass on April 12, 2015 Cycle B
In 2018, we reflected on —
Easter is about
- what Resurrection means for Jesus
- what Resurrection means for us
- in other words, how do we hold Resurrection and death together?
Consider that during the Holy Week liturgies
- in the Paschal sacrifice and creed we avow that Jesus “died and rose.”
- the silences at the end of the Palm Sunday and Good Friday (and eventually, Holy Thursday, after the Sacrament is transferred to the Altar of Repose) liturgies are to show that none of the Holy Week masses are finished, are complete UNTIL our Easter Vigil in which from the darkness of the world in the beginning before God through the Light of the Sacrament and new people joining the church …
- death and resurrection occur
- the suffering of death, and
- the suffering fulfilled in his Resurrection
- we know this (that the suffering is fulfilled in his Resurrection) because God’s Mercy fulfills all this, because of the blood and water of Jesus poured out for us and creating the Church
As a reflection, we may want to think about some of God’s Mercies to me / us when we sing out God’s glory in the Gloria or psalm or hymns. We might reflect on our close calls, when we were spared by God’s Mercy, as children of a God who is constantly saving us in Mercy, and in so doing, asks us to offer the same … or at least offer mercy.
Jeff Comer’s poem is a wonderful witness of how we have all been spared by very close margins. Mercy comes close even (and most especially) in real serious danger. Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan, when perhaps another 1/2 hour the traveler would be dead … or one of the blows had landed inches closer resulting in a fatal blow … or the innkeeper wouldn’t do business with a Samaritan or a near death traveler.
In 2015, we reflected on —
“This is the day that the Lord has made (15:30 to 18:00 in the video),” as we just sung in the psalm … and so is all of Easter!
The reading from Acts is clear that, when we are of one heart and mind, we share our physical belongings and needs, too.
- People are selling everything they own and pooling their money so they can live in community and in common to pray and serve together.
- The passage helps show that people can be blown open in Love and faith to live in a new way, like the gospel and Thomas’ exclamation from his soul — “My Lord and My God!!”
The gospel offers the grace of being able to identify with Thomas, as we struggle with our doubts and resentments and more. However, … the most important actor in the gospel isn’t Thomas, … it’s Jesus! 🙂 Jesus is the heart and soul of the gospel.
- Jesus is speaking to all of us 2,000 years later when he offers that “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
- We believe and see Jesus in the events of our lives, the people around us, in the world around us, and, in those most blessed and rare of moments, inside ourselves.
- (rl — interjecting a brief cameo from Bob Scullin, SJ’s homily at the Spanish Mass) that with the greeting of “Shalom [Peace]” the hands of the greeter are lifted wide in greeting, not unlike a partial extension on a cross. This means that Jesus’ wounds are visible to his friends when the sleeves of his garment drop, and they identify him. More importantly, with the visible wounds and Jesus’ physical presence and greeting, they can, Allelujah! Allegria!, see he isn’t angry with them, see he is real. In fact, Jesus is the face of God’s Divine Mercy / Miserecordia.
- Again, Jesus is the focus. Not Thomas, not us, not me.
Today’s poem is April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur.
- Easter was April 5, 1974 this year.
- The line in which Wilbur writes “a set mind, blessed by doubt, // Relaxes into mother-wit.” “Mother-wit” meaning “good sense.”
- “Flowers, I said, will come of it.” The passage offers the grace of being at ease in a sudden confirmation of common sense — yes, I do know what is happening … and hope (flowers) follow this kind of awakening.
Doubts can lead to new insights and new life; we just need to keep growing in and through our doubts in confidence in the presence of the Spirit in our lives.
[Hoping for permission for what I think is a wonderful image by an amazing artist.]
Don’t think it’s happening — but I loved “Thinking of Ewe” by David Zinn, an Ann Arborean and international street / chalk artist of inimitable creativity.
Not ba-a-a-ad for all us sheep hoping to get Home, don’t you think? 🙂 Creation concreted over, and the white alyssum still find their way through … and flowers have come of it. And a sheep.
The Surest Sign 