THE OCTAVE OF EASTER – SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY (2024)
Readings:
Acts 4:32-35
Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31
We have St. John Paul II to thank for adding confusion to this perfectly liturgical celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. How did St. John Paul do it? He did it by introducing his personal piety into the Church’s liturgical calendar, so much so that many today believe on this Sunday we celebrate the feast day of Mother Faustina Kowalski, a polish mystic whose visions of Jesus draw attention to the worthy understanding of the overwhelming mercy present in what Jesus has done for us.
The Church has suppressed the majority of Octaves it once celebrated, and presently the Church can boast of only two: the Octave following Christmas, and the Octave following the Lord’s Resurrection, the Octave we are presently immersed in. I remember learning about the importance of the Easter Octave in seminary, the reason why for eight days the priest proclaims and “on this day,” a continuous eight days of having our attention drawn to Jesus being raised from the tomb.
The Church long ago realized that we need more than just a day to contemplate the sublime mysteries celebrated in the chief feasts of our faith, mysteries such as the Virgin Birth and the empty tomb. We must have time to reflect on and experience in our hearts what God is revealing on these holy days. For St. John Paul to inject what amounts to a celebration of St. Faustina, with posters of her vision and readings of her Chaplet of Divine Mercy, dilutes the impact of what an Octave is for, and draws our attention away from the resurrection mystery we are meant to be focused on. There! I’ve had my say.
The locked doors behind which the disciples were hiding are a sign that the events of the day were viewed disparagingly; they were a failure. All of the disciples, including Judas and Peter, were no doubt convinced there would be a shift in the course of the day, a shift towards something that more resembled the Messiah they expected, and that they wanted. Except for the beloved disciple John, none of them could draw even close to the cross, so obvious was it to them that Jesus had failed.
Imagine the conversations going back and forth in that locked room – ‘Now what do we do? Are we next? Will they come looking for us? Should we stick together, or should some of us just go back to our fishing?’ It is in this room that Jesus makes His first appearance, on the very day of His own crucifixion, and while Jesus could have legitimately asked – ‘Where were you? Why did you deny me? Couldn’t you have been some support to John and the women?’ – there were no recriminations, no one was chastised, no one was called a coward. Instead, in words that brought about what He said ( a “performance utterance”), He wished the disciples peace, and from this moment on a change would begin to happen in the hearts of all the disciples. There would be no question of who this was, for Jesus would show them the unerasable wounds of violence in His hands and side. This is what He did for them and for all peoples. With words that would alter their lives forever, they received the “Holy Spirit,” and they would eventually leave this locked room changed into missionaries.
How good for us that one outspoken disciple was not present for Jesus’ initial appearance, for he no doubt represents the thoughts swirling around the room before Jesus’ gift of the Spirit – ‘That’s impossible! We all saw Him die! You are all delusional!’ Thomas represents all those who would find it impossible to think that something beyond the grave was possible, but just as Jesus’ willingness to share His wounds with the other disciples would manifest His love and forgiveness, so sharing those same wounds with Thomas would bring him from unbelief to belief.
By His wounds we have all been healed, and those wounds, obediently and willingly embraced by Jesus, are a sign of love and mercy that have no boundaries.
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