SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR C
(DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY)
8th April 2018
Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday! The emphasis is on God’s loving Mercy on humanity through His son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is for us a perfect example of how to show mercy. God’s mercy is all-encompassing. It is capable of unity humanity into a community of love. The unity that humanity seeks in contemporary “globalism” is achievable through forgiveness. Jesus Christ insists that, ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ This is a picture of God’s intention to give mercy the divine character of Jesus Christ.
The character of mercy is to be found in the life and ministry of Christ. The self-donation on the cross is a show of mercy beyond ‘right or wrong’. The intention of Christ is to give humanity a new beginning that is devoid of violence. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of nonviolence. The ministry of Jesus Christ is to present and open this kingdom to humanity. Self-donation is a sacrifice of nonviolence. To forgive is to withdraw from violence. It is the renunciation of the will to violence. forgiveness breaks the vicious circle of violence – vengeance, rivalry etc. The ability to give up the natural impulse to retaliation is what the self-donation in forgiveness achieves.
On this day, let us promote the mercy that flows from the cross. The centrality of the cross in God’s mercy cannot be over emphasized. The unity and understanding that forgiveness achieves is beyond comparison and comprehension.
Anthony Ekpunobi, CM.
