Joining Mercy’s Team

Divine Mercy Sunday (A)

Looking back on my life as a child, it’s interesting to note how much of my interaction with other children took place in the context of games. That may be true for many of you as well. Card games, board games, ping pong, the early video games – and those were just the indoor games. There was baseball, basketball, dodgeball, “It”, marbles, and other outdoor games. There were a few games we made up or adapted with a few rules of our own. 

These games worked best, and were most enjoyable, when everyone involved shared some basic qualities:

  1. Each child had a love for the game.
  2. Each child was committed, at least in principle, to play fairly and honestly.
  3. We all agreed ahead of time on the rules of the game.
  4. We had some way of deciding when a move or play was good or bad, and everyone agreed with that decision.
  5. If it was a team game, every child had not only a desire to play as an individual, but had a team spirit, ready to help the team win.

As we grew older, we saw how those same basic qualities could serve us well in other contexts: while working on a class project, or playing on a varsity team, or getting and holding a job. Every human organization looks to foster these qualities in their members as individuals and to help them work together to better achieve the organization’s goals. The Church, made up as it is of human beings, is no exception.

What does it mean to join the “team” of the Church? How do we discover the mercy of God, and then how to share that mercy with others? Our Scripture readings for this Sunday have a great deal to say about this. I will highlight some basic points from the Gospel and the reading from Acts.

In our Gospel passage (John 20:19-31), we find the disciples gathered together in one place. They have just been told by Mary Magdalene that she has seen the Lord, that Jesus is risen, as he said. Belief in the Resurrection of Jesus is absolutely fundamental to our faith. St. Paul tells us that our faith is worthless without this. But, at this moment in the story, the disciples haven’t yet committed themselves or understood what this means. They fear meeting the same death as Jesus, so they have locked their doors. They lack individual commitment or a team spirit, so to speak, at this point.

Despite the locked doors, Someone comes in and speaks to them. This Someone is Jesus himself. Seeing the wounds of Jesus gives the disciples joy, and opens their hearts to the gift of peace that Jesus gives them. It is not enough for them, or for us, to hear about the Resurrection as something that happened. They, and we, must encounter the Risen Lord in our own lives. They, and we, must encounter him in our fears and our wounds, and discover there something totally unexpected – a peace and a joy that is deeper and stronger than any fear or hurt. The disciples, and we, can then have a genuine love for the Lord and the desire to follow him wherever he leads.

Jesus then speaks to the disciples about forgiving sins. Here, too, is something essential. To welcome the Risen Jesus as Lord also means to realize how we have all fallen short of living even a basic human life, let alone the life of grace that the Lord gives us. We are all afflicted by sin. We all need to be forgiven. Then, we all need to be forgivers, passing on generously the same generous mercy that the Risen Lord has bestowed on us.

But why should we do this? Why should we have that kind of commitment to Jesus? In comes Thomas to help us. He resists believing at first, but no more so than the others did. The others believed when they saw the wounds of Jesus; Thomas now wants to see and touch these wounds so that he might believe. Believe what? That Jesus is risen from the dead? Yes, but not only that. There is one more step for faith. When Jesus comes to Thomas to seek Thomas’ faith, thus showing him great mercy in his need, Thomas exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus is not simply one great man, or great teacher, or great spiritual leader alongside others. He is also God. We do not merely listen to or respect Jesus; we worship him and entrust our lives to him.

But how do we normally receive this faith and nurture it? Does the life of faith have its own structure and rules? Here, we turn to the first reading, Acts 2:42-47. In this short passage, St. Luke mentions four qualities of that first Christian community in Jerusalem, qualities that remain true for us as Catholic Christians now: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) A few words on each.

  1. The teaching of the apostles. In this first Christian community, this meant, literally, what the apostles preached and taught. The apostles were recognized as leaders chosen by Christ himself to call people to faith and to nourish the faith of all who came forward and were baptized. For us now, we find this teaching in several places. We have the New Testament, based largely on that witness of those first apostles. We have the witness of nearly two millennia of how the successors of the apostles, the bishops in union with the Pope, have addressed many questions and formulated teachings based on the Scriptures, Tradition, and the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit. And, we have the Pope and bishops in our own day, who continue to announce the Gospel and who can act as “referees”, so to speak: making the call as to whether a certain action or teaching is (or is not) in harmony with all that the Lord has taught us.
  2. The communal life. St. Luke tells us that these first Christians “had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.” Christianity is, so to speak, a team sport. We are all in this together.  We are meant to help each  other by sharing whatever gifts we have with one another. The love we have for one another, made concrete in this way, will then overflow into a love that shows mercy to those who are not yet believers – or those who may have been believers but are now adrift – and that invites them in. The parish is more than Sunday Mass – as essential as Sunday Mass is. It’s the place where we help one another materially, emotionally and spiritually.
  3. The breaking of bread. At Emmaus, two disciples recognized the presence of the Risen Jesus in “the breaking of bread”. For St. Luke, “the breaking of bread” refers primarily to the Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council taught that everything in the life of faith leads to the Eucharist and flows from it. It is the source and summit of our lives as Catholic Christians. here, Jesus feeds us with his very life – his Body and Blood – so that the gift of faith, hope and love he has given us can be nourished. There is no greater food; there is no more necessary or more productive food. The Eucharist creates and fosters the communal life of Catholic Christians. It displays for us the broken Body and the outpoured Blood of the Lord, and empowers us to give our lives to him, to one another, and to all humanity just as the Lord gave his life for us.
  4. The prayers. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our spiritual lives. However, that life of faith needs constant nourishment. Moreover, the Lord has called us friends. He invites us into a continual relationship of prayer with him. We become more open to the gift of the Eucharist and to the word of the Lord as we maintain a daily prayer life. The goal is that everything we do, say and think become prayer – that is, from God, in God, and leading to God. This prayer will take communal form at times: the Liturgy of the Hours, family rosaries, Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and other devotions. This prayer will take individual form at times: any of the above devotions, prayers in our own words, or simply being before the Lord in silence and childlike trust.

Much more could be said about each point. However, I hope that this will help you see the “big picture” of our Catholic faith and see how your own life is part of that “big picture”. The Lord announces peace for you and me as well. We, too, are invited to believe, even though we have not seen. We, too, are offered a share in the very life of God.