Easter Beatitude (2nd Sunday Easter C)

The gospel today (Jn 20:19-31) proclaims, as it were, the Easter beatitude: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (v. 29). Clearly this speaks of Christian believers who have not been eyewitnesses to the marvellous event of Jesus’ resurrection but have, nonetheless, demonstrated an unwavering faith in Him as Lord and God.  This speaks about us who, despite our many struggles in life and obstacles to the joy of believing in this increasingly secularized society, continue to live in faith and proclaim the goodness and mercy of God.

Today, the Divine Mercy Sunday is an invitation for us to put our trust in the infinite mercy of our loving God and experience the blessedness that the Lord has promised to those who believe in Him. Let us allow God’s mercy to lead us into the three significant interior movements that the disciples experienced as they encounter the Risen Lord in the gospel account today.

The movement from fear to joy.  The death of the Master on the cross on Good Friday sent the disciples to hiding. Out of fear, they holed up in a room afraid of a possible crack down on the followers of the crucified Messiah. Today’s gospel, however, recounts how Jesus dispels their fear by offering them his peace: “Peace be with you.” Jesus’ appearance throws away the paralysis caused by fear and, once again, enables them to rejoice in freedom. Then Jesus, after overcoming the obstacle of fear, sends them to the mission of proclaiming the gospel. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 5:12-16) tells us that the apostles become the adhesive force of the community, gaining respect from people, and attracting a great number of converts.  

What are my fears? Is it fear of rejection? Or of pain? Suffering? Persecution? When we live in fear, we back off and hide in order to protect ourselves from harm.  But the price of maintaining this false security is high. We lose the joy of spontaneity, the freedom to be sent and proclaim the love and mercy of God.  Hence, let us allow the Risen Lord to allay our fears and to lead us to the joyful conviction that God is always on our side.

The movement from guilt to the peace of forgiveness.  Another very likely disposition of the disciples following the horror of Good Friday is guilt. Judas’ guilt has led him to despair; and we can just imagine the angst of Peter for having denied the Lord three times!  Yet, Jesus greets them with the Easter gift of peace.  No mention of their betrayal and cowardice. And not only has he forgiven them, He makes them instruments of God’s forgiveness.  He breathes on them and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (v. 22-23).  Jesus empowers the apostles to overcome the anguish of guilt by forgiveness. Hereafter, the apostles and their successors will be Jesus’ representatives in the world to impart his peace by absolving the sins of those who repent.

What have I done that continues to haunt me and imprisons me? Or what have I failed to do for people I love and for God? Our guilt imprisons us. It can rob us of our peace of mind and continue to torment us. To experience the Easter beatitude, we need to allow the Risen Lord to grant us peace and experience that deep sense of being forgiven. Only when we accept the boundless mercy of God that we can truly live with the Easter happiness.

The movement from doubt to faith.  Another obstacle to Easter faith is doubt. The encounter between Jesus and Thomas in today’s gospel demonstrates how Jesus overcomes doubt. Jesus yields to Thomas’ obstinacy showing the latter the evidence he is looking for as a requirement for his belief. Thomas goes down in history as the doubting apostle; yet when we come to think of it, his skepticism saves us from our own doubts. Thomas has disproved any theories that suggest the resurrection as mere hallucination on the part of the apostles. He has seen the Risen Lord in his own eyes in the very terms he demanded. Hence, his proclamation of faith, “My Lord and my God!” can also be ours.  

Does the joy of believing manifest in my life? The societies we find ourselves in are subscribing more and more to secular philosophies which belittle and ignore the truth of our Christian faith. Many times, unawares we allow this worldview to be our own too as we face life and make decisions. This slowly jeopardizes our joyful witnessing to our faith. Like Thomas, let us allow the Risen Lord to come to us and overcome our lack of faith.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us come to Jesus, bringing with us our fears, our guilt, and our lack of faith but trusting in the transforming power of his mercy. Let us allow his infinite mercy to open the locked doors of our hiding place and invite us to come out into the open with joy instead of fear, with peace instead of guilt, with faith instead of unbelief. 

                                                           

A Blessed Easter Life (2nd Sunday Easter B)

Travelling through the highways of Mountain Province in 2006 helped me appreciate the gift of sight and of faith; and discern their distinction.  A friend of mine, a priest from Baguio, invited me to do a little excursion to the northern region to have a breath of fresh air away from studies.  After a couple of days chilling in his place, the City of Pines, we decided to go to Sagada and Bontoc. Going up on an off-road jeep at mid-afternoon, we were soon passing through the highway known as the highest point of elevation. It was just before sundown. The altitude gave me the excellent vantage point from where to see the breath-taking grandeur of the mountains around me. Seen against the background of the retiring sun, the whole scenery filled my eyes with sheer delight of witnessing greatness, beauty and melancholy all at once.  A couple of days later, coming back at dawn, we were passing through the same place again, only this time, at sunrise. The sight was exhilarating. The colossal and expansive mass of mountains highlighted by the gentle rays of the morning sun held me spellbound.  Soon, I was misty-eyed and felt like exploding.

My eyes witnessed an awesome scenery. But there was something unseen that kept my heart pounding and burning with unexplainable sense of jubilation and admiration. It was something I believed in:  Beyond what met my eyes was a strong and undeniable presence. It was the presence of Him who is Himself Beauty, Grandeur, Might, Intelligence, Purpose, and Graciousness. The Creator.

The gift of sight is a delight. But most of what is essential in life are unseen. They are believed.

Today’s gospel (Jn 20:19-31) proclaims this truth: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (v. 29).  The blessedness of Easter is not so much the delight of seeing as it is the courage, the peace, and the faith of someone who believes!  This is discernible in John’s account of what happened in that closed room as the risen Lord appeared to his fearful disciples.

In the gospel reading, the risen Christ appeared to them and freed them from three obstacles to a blessed Easter life: The paralysis of fear, the alienation of guilt, the anxiety of doubt.

Freedom from Fear. The death of the Master on the cross on Good Friday sent the disciples to hiding. Out of fear, they holed up in a room afraid of a possible crack down on the followers of the crucified Messiah. Today’s gospel, however, recounts how Jesus dispelled their fear by offering them his peace: “Peace be with you.” Jesus’ appearance threw away the paralysis caused by fear and, once again, enabled them to rejoice in freedom and, more importantly, to possess the courage to embrace the mission of proclaiming the gospel.

We can always hide in fear; stay safe in our comfort zones; live with a non-committal attitude in life. But the Risen Lord invites us to believe in the blessedness of Easter life—a life characterized by courage. The courage to engage in the challenges of life.  The courage to move on after a door is closed, venturing into the newly opened windows. The courage to proclaim in whatever we do the greatness of God in our lives.

Freedom from Guilt.  The disciples were guilty of running for their own lives and abandoning their Master.  Aside from the paralysis of fear, they were also alienated by their guilt. So as Jesus dispelled the fear of the disciples, he proceeded in breathing into them the Holy Spirit, to become the source of forgiveness:  “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (v. 22-23).   Hereafter, the apostles and their successors would be Jesus’ representatives in the world to impart his peace by absolving the guilt of those who repent.

We can helplessly succumb to our weaknesses and live in the alienation of guilt, heightening each day our feeling of unworthiness.  But a blessed Easter life summons us to live in God’s “ocean of mercy.”  Today is the Feast of Divine Mercy. But the happiness of the one who believes in the Risen Lord is the joy of feasting in God's mercy not just today but all the days of one's life.

Freedom from Doubt.  The encounter between Jesus and Thomas demonstrated how Jesus overcame doubt. Jesus yielded to Thomas’ obstinacy showing the latter the evidence he was looking for as a requirement for his belief. Thomas went down in history as the doubting apostle; yet when we come to think of it, his scepticism saved us from our own doubts. Thomas had disproved any theories that suggest the resurrection as mere hallucination of the part of the apostles. He had seen the Risen Lord in his own eyes in the very terms he demanded. Hence, his proclamation of faith, “My Lord and my God!” can also be ours. Our only difference with him:  without seeing we believe. And blessed are we.

A blessed Easter life is living in faith and confidence that God is victorious. The risen Lord has conquered sin and death. He offers us grace and life. There is no use dwelling in our paranoia and the unsettling anxieties over the uncertainties in life.  We can let go of our compulsion to be in control of everything. We can be happy. Just believe.  Let God be God and let us have a blessed Easter life.