Second Sunday of Easter

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Our glimpse of the Christian community in today’s first reading is an idealized picture, a kind of utopian dream. It depicts the primitive church more in its eschatological fulfillment than as it probably really was. Four characteristics of that community are given: apostolic teaching, community, Eucharist, and prayer. The signs and wonders that were performed by the apostles were primarily cures, evidence that the eschatological age of fulfillment had dawned. This miraculous activity filled the bystanders with awe, the conventional response of human beings who have witnessed the extraordinary power of God. The risen Lord brought others into their midst and made their numbers increase.

The short reading from 1 Peter contains a variety of themes: praise of God, Christology, soteriology, eschatology. It opens with a doxology patterned after a Jewish hymn of praise of God. Out of this theocentric perspective, the author develops his Christology, declaring that Jesus is the mediator of the salvation that comes from God. The new life that believers receive from God is eschatological in nature, looking to the future for the fulfillment of God’s promise. The hope to which the new life looks is eschatological, the inheritance that accompanies it is eschatological, and the salvation that it guarantees is eschatological. This is the living hope to which Christians are born.

Thomas is the hinge that connects the two Resurrection appearances in the Gospel. Absent for the first event, he is the central character of the second. Thomas represents the second generation of Christians who are called to believe on the testimony of others. The faith required of him is, in a way, more demanding than that required of those who actually encountered the risen Lord. Jesus states that Thomas’ ultimate faith does not compare with the faith of those who do not enjoy any sensible experience of the Lord. Thomas should be remembered, not because he was absent or because he doubted, but because like us he was called to believe on the word of others.

Jan 08 2025

Show Me!

We don’t know the day-to-day occupation of Thomas the apostle. He asked a lot of questions. His may have been the first-century equivalent of a scientific mind: He’s looking for evidence. He wants to be shown. He is not content to take the word of the others. He wants to see. He wants to understand.

The beautiful thing about this story is Jesus’ divine mercy. He doesn’t condemn Thomas’s request. He offers to show him his hands and his side. He respects the intellectual grasping of the “scientist.” Yet commentary after commentary deprecates Thomas’ questions, even though Jesus did not. “Just believe on the apostles’ word,” they interpret as today’s message. They must not live in the same world that I live in.

You can tell your scientifically-minded sixteen-year-old, “Just believe that God loves you” until you are blue in the face. She is not going to believe it on your word. She wants to see. Yet we have not seen God. With our limited minds, we cannot comprehend the Trinity; both St. Augustine and history’s agnostics agree on that. The difference between a Christian and an agnostic, then, is revelation— we believe that by the mercy of God, we have been shown. The Lord has breathed on us and because of that, we have seen his glory.

When I teach my undergraduate prayer class at Notre Dame, I get a mix of believers and non-believers. Early in the course, I offer them what I call The Atheist’s Prayer: “God, if you’re real, show me.” I cannot harangue them into belief. If God is real and they keep praying, they will be shown. I have seen it happen. God comes, not because we pray, but out of a deep desire to be with us. In every generation, age and after age, God shows up.

Consider/Discuss

Faith is a gift that we have been given. We have been shown. We have responded, but it was first a gift given. On this Divine Mercy Sunday, how can we have greater mercy for those who may not believe based on our word? What is one concrete thing that we can do to strengthen or mend a relationship with a family member who is far from faith?
In today’s story from the Acts of the Apostles, the early community “showed” the risen Lord by the way that they lived their lives. How can we build a faith community that is so loving that others are attracted? Together, how can we reveal that following Jesus is worth living for?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord Jesus, thank you for offering to show your hands and your side to the apostle Thomas. As a result of your mercy, he came to faith and declared you “Lord and God.” Bless all those we know with scientific minds, especially those who do not now believe in you. Reveal yourself to them and show them that following you is the greatest adventure that they could ever undertake. For you are alive! You are here, now. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jan 08 2025

Scripture Study for

The new life in Christ manifested itself in the lives of the disciples through learning the Christian proclamation, caring for each other, and prayer. The apostles themselves not only teach but heal and, as with Jesus, the crowds are amazed at what God accomplishes through them. Communal life is marked by simplicity and sharing, countering cultural tendencies toward selfishness. The prayer of the disciples involves traditional forms of Jewish liturgy but also specifically Christian prayer of “breaking bread.” In all they do followers of Christ present a powerful, positive witness to what it means to live the Way, and this evangelization in word, deed, and prayer draws many others to Christ.

Peter is writing to Christians who are struggling to remain faithful to their baptismal calling, which has alienated them from their society and perhaps their families. Thus his letter begins with encouragement: They have received an inheritance from God that can never be taken away from them against their will. This inheritance is an imperishable treasure that others cannot touch, steal, or destroy because it is not here on earth, but with God. Peter focuses on the necessity to have faith (mentioned three times) that Christ will see their souls through any persecution. Suffering is cause for joy because it strengthens faith. Suffering for Christ brings them closer to their goal, the inheritance waiting for them safely with Christ.

The fearful disciples have hidden from the world. Into their fear comes Christ, who twice proclaims peace and sends them back out into the world. Their mission is not only to forgive (or retain) sins, but to proclaim Jesus as God’s Messiah, proof of which claim is his resurrection. While the disciples have the advantage of actually seeing the resurrected Christ, those to whom they are sent will not. Thus the story of Thomas emphasizes the necessity for those who are not able to “see the mark of the nails in his hands” to believe on the strength of the witness of others that Jesus of Nazareth, crucified as a criminal, is in fact “Lord and God.”

Dec 16 2024

Risen Lord, Gift Giver

One of the nicest things about the Easter season is that it has escaped much of the commercialization of Christmas. For most, the urge to shop is not part of this great feast. And when you think of Easter music, hymns, and hallelujahs come to mind; there are only a few Easter songs. Is there something about this feast so sacred that even the merchandisers have refrained from exploiting it?

At the same time, today’s Gospel reminds us that while we do not get caught up with gift-giving, Easter is still a season to remember the gifts unique to it, those the risen Lord brought when he appeared to the apostles hiding in the upper room behind locked doors. The crippling fear they suffered was released by these gifts.

First, he gives them peace (shalom), which stands for all God’s blessings that can enrich human life. Then he breathes the Holy Spirit on them—the great gift of the risen Lord, allowing them to offer God’s forgiveness to all who seek it. Finally, there is the gift of faith, the ability to believe without seeing, to read the signs God so generously scatters throughout our world. All these gifts are manifestations of the Spirit.

In our first reading, we witness the gift of the Spirit found at work in Peter healing the sick and delivering those “disturbed by unclean spirits.” And the Spirit is found in the visions given to John the Seer in Revelation, so we might have hope in God who has overturned the power of death.

Consider/Discuss

Have any of the Easter gifts mentioned helped you to see with the eyes of faith?
Have you known Easter’s gifts—peace, forgiveness, healing, and hope—as able to free you from fear?

Responding to the Word

Risen Lord, you continue to come to us when we lock ourselves away from the world out of fear. Breathe upon us and send your Spirit to give us the courage to go forth and bring your gifts to others. We thank you for the gifts of the Easter season.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

“Signs and wonders” refers to the miracles that the apostles were able to accomplish through the divine power bestowed on them by Jesus. This passage is probably a collection of motifs rather than a coherent summary. It states that some people were afraid to join the community of believers; it then contradicts itself by claiming that great numbers were added to their ranks. Actually, both were probably true. The great accomplishments of the early Christians certainly struck fear in the hearts of some, while at the same time they attracted others. Fear and admiration can and do exist side by side, especially when the power of God is evident.

John is caught up by the Spirit and is commissioned by God as were the prophets of old. The function of his vision is twofold: it clarifies the nature of his task, and it confers divine authority on it. John is gripped with fear, literally frightened to death. The figure in the vision responds with the standard declaration of reassurance: Fear not! Do not be afraid! The figure then identifies himself with the classic divine self-revelation: I am! (égó eími). The figure in the vision clearly takes to himself divine characteristics. This vision is not merely for John; it is clearly meant for the churches as well.

It is on the evening of the Resurrection day itself that the Holy Spirit is bestowed on the disciples, who are then commissioned to go forth and declare salvation and judgment. The absent Thomas represents the second generation of Christians, those called to believe through the testimony of others. The faith required of him is, in a way, more demanding than that required of those who actually encountered the risen Lord. Viewed in this way, his doubt might be more understandable. According to Jesus, as profound as was Thomas’ ultimate faith, it does not compare with the faith of those who do not enjoy the kind of experience of the Lord described here.