‘My Lord and my God!’
On this Second Sunday of Easter, the readings invite us to believe and trust God’s mercy. According to the ways of the world, mercy does not really make sense, but this is the very faith Paul speaks of as that which ‘conquers the world’: forgiveness begets forgiveness, mercy begets mercy, love begets love (Second Reading). Our need for, and joy in, such graces is echoed in the Psalm, where we can join with the psalmist in saying: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever!’
The Acts of the Apostles (First Reading) shows that the mercy of the risen Lord continues to be poured out through the ministry of his apostles, while in the Gospel we see Jesus himself being the model for mercy for his fearful and doubtful friends.
The US journalist Cathleen Falsani wrote: ‘justice is getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve; grace is getting what you don’t deserve.’ This coming week, let’s pray that, though completely underserving of such a gift of grace, God’s divine mercy will have its effect in us, freeing and opening us to love ever more deeply.
