Second Sunday of Easter - 2019

Today, Second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday – established by Pope John Paul II, April 30, 2000, which was the 2nd Sunday of Easter that year and the day of the Canonization of Sister Faustyna KowalskaI, who is the source of the Divine Mercy devotion. Now, I suspect most everyone has a go at the board game Monopoly. On some moves you can pick up special cards you can use when needed. One such is the “get out jail free” card. If a move lands you in jail you just use the card and you’re out. I think it characterizes well the way some people think of God’s Mercy. Since God loves us, He forgives us, and our sins are wiped away. All we do is say thanks. In today’s gospel we see Jesus commissioning his disciples to go and preach forgiveness. In Luke’s account, the commission is stated this way: “. . . repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in Jesus’ name to all the nations.” There are two dynamics happening here, Mercy is given, but given to those who repent. It’s the repentance part that some people seem to overlook. Today’s second reading comes into play here. It is the beginning of the Book of Revelation which will be the source of the Second Readings for the rest of these Easter Sundays. John is told by the Lord to write to the seven Churches of Asia Minor: The Lord says to John,  "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." Rev.1:11 These are people who have heard the gospel, repented, embraced the faith and were formed into churches – not unlike us gathered today. But some of these churches and their people have a problem – something has gone wrong with their repentance. "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:  "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary." Wow, this is one commendable church to be sure. The message continues, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first.” Only a couple of the seven Churches escape the Lord’s rebuke. Notice how they are called back to repentance – that which is our part in God’s Mercy – not just on the day of our baptism but all through our Christian life. Easter is a time for celebrating God’s Mercy and a time to examine the quality of our response to that Mercy. Might the Lord be saying something similar to us today, “I have this against you- “ And what might that be? So let us look again at the Cross of Jesus and see what mercy cost him, the mercy that He gives us so freely. How am I doing? Have I grown mediocre in my faith? What needs to revive in the practice of my faith? What is the quality of my love? Then He will say to those on His left, ‘I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Mtt. 25:41 Let us use these days of Easter to truly examine and put to the test the quality of our love.

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