Today, we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter, which is also the Feast of Divine Mercy. Christ is truly risen from the dead! He holds Power and Kingship over the universe. This revelation is made by Jesus himself to the Apostle John in the second reading of this Sunday: “I am the First and the Last, the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Rev 1:18-19. It is the victory of Christ over death, of Light over Darkness, of Truth over lies… Christ is alive and He invites each of us to enter into this new life that He wants to communicate to us by offering us His Peace. Yes, “Peace be with you!” Jesus says three times in the Gospel of Saint John to the disciples who had locked themselves in for fear of the Jews.
Today, Jesus Christ renews this peace for each of us in the face of all the uncertainties of life, in the face of the fear of tomorrow, of situations of violence and injustice that paralyze the world. We are called to walk in Hope, not in a passive hope, but a hope that carries us towards a better world. Consequently, it is the sending out of the disciples on a mission to be witnesses of the Redemption, of what they have seen, touched, and contemplated of the Resurrection of Christ. The Risen One is present and acts through his disciples. The multiple dazzling signs performed by the apostles in the excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles submitted to our meditation are a confirmation of this. And many people “were added to the Lord, believing” Acts 5:14 thanks to the proclamation of the Paschal Kerygma. Thus, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Word of God, the Mercy of God has been manifested to the world for the forgiveness of sins, so that every person can be reconciled with their Creator. Through the sacrament of confession, we have God’s mercy in its fullness. Today, it is up to us to be messengers of this message of grace, like Saint Dominic and Saint Francis Coll.
In this spiritual journey, faith intervenes, allowing us to enter into communication with God. Saint Augustine said that the first grace we received was the gift of faith. Man needs to put his faith in God, in the resurrection of Christ, to allow himself to be guided towards the Truth. But at the same time, faith is not something unthinking; on the contrary, faith invites us to reflect, to question certain concessions, worldly ideologies. The pitfalls that result from them compel us to engage in critical reflection to progress and break free from the patterns that distance us from the truth of the Gospel, for a return to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth,” said Saint John Paul II in his Encyclical Letter “Fides et Ratio.” The doubt of Thomas still teaches us today the practice of critical reflection to arrive at a conviction of our faith. It is about doubt that elevates us towards faith. Doubt in order to believe. May the Lord open the understanding of our hearts to heavenly realities!
Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!
Sr Marthe A. ABADAHOUE
Abidjan Community – Ivory Coast
Vicariate of Saint François Coll
