Excerpt:  Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize in his name, reminding them that he is always present through his Spirit (3). Having ascended to his Father amid cries of gladness, we are to be his witnesses (1) for we have been gifted with his Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let us, therefore, live in a manner worthy of the call we have received.

Excerpt:  Let us love one another as Christ has loved us (3) by offering himself for our sins (2).  His love is to be revealed to all the world, as Peter himself taught (1).

Excerpt: Saul witnesses the risen Jesus and boldly proclaims his Lordship (1).  We proclaim our belief in Jesus by our love for one another (2).  He is the vine and we the branches (3).  Together let us praise his name in our assembly of worship.

Excerpt: Jesus is the “cornerstone rejected by the builders which has become the cornerstone.”  He is the good shepherd who laid down his life for us (3).  Through his paschal mystery we have become children of God (2).

Excerpt:  Peter proclaims the wonders of the Lord.  The suffering Messiah is raised from the dead and has been glorified (1).  This Jesus is our intercessor and our offering for sin (2), our peace (3).

We are gathered in the upper room. There are a few lessons to learn and remember from Jesus.

1)  Jesus stresses the realness of the resurrection. Jesus was not a ghost, or a phantom, or some hallucination. The risen Jesus was the real thing. Jesus died and rose. Both are real things. Christianity therefore, is not founded on dreams or visions, or on tales and stories. There are witnesses who see, touch, feel, and eat with the Risen Jesus. The death and resurrection of Jesus is as real you and I are face to face.

2)  Jesus stresses the necessity of the cross. All of scripture, all of the patriarchs and prophets, all of the holy men and women of the Old Testament look forward to, and point to the sacrifice of the cross. The cross was not an emergency, stop gap measure that Jesus had to endure because all else failed and the plan of salvation went wrong. It was the plan of God, that Jesus would by His very nature, give Himself as a living sacrifice, so that we might know, love, and serve God. Very beautifully, Jesus, on the cross, on Calvary, is the one person, in one special place on earth, in one moment of time and in one moment of history where we see eternal love given on our behalf. Resurrection requires first, the cross. The cross reveals the love of Jesus for all of us and from that love comes resurrection.

3)  There is an urgency in that upper room that repentance for the forgiveness of sin, brought about by Jesus, is to be extended to all the nations, to the whole world. The joy of forgiving and being forgiven, the joy of sharing a new relationship with God, and with each other in Jesus, must be shared with all humanity.

4)  While there was an urgency to share the joy of reconciliation in Jesus, there is also time to wait for God, a time to wait in Jerusalem, in the upper room until the power of the Holy Spirit would come down upon the apostles. This time of waiting is not wasted time. It’s time away from all of their daily tasks, time away from ordinary work and from the work of preaching Jesus, so that, filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles could return to their work, and to the task of preaching Jesus, but with renewed power and strength.

So we pray:  O most holy Lord, crucified, killed on the cross yet risen, it has always been Your desire that we accept You just as You are: that You are real, alive, and always concerned about all of us. Give us grace and power to love You with all our hearts, to follow the way of the cross, to repent, be reconciled, and to share the joy of Your risen life. A prayer we make to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, and through Your name Lord Jesus, for You live forever and ever.  Amen.

Rev. A. J. Geraci

St. Paul Church

Yellow Springs, OH

Excerpt:  Thomas believed because he saw the risen Jesus (3).  Although we have never seen him, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, begotten by God (1).  We give thanks to the Lord that he has formed us into a community of believers (1), united in the Spirit.

The Second Sunday of Easter has, in recent times, been called, “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It is a special title with a special meaning instituted by Pope John Paul II after visiting the tomb of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in Lagiewniki, Poland, June 7, 1997

Our gospel reading reveals the formal beginning of the sacrament of penance on Easter Sunday evening. It is the sacrament of forgiveness. It is the sacrament of “Divine Mercy.”

The mercy shown and shared with us through the vision of St. Maria Faustina is the same mercy of the Lord Jesus imparted on that first Easter Sunday. It is the mercy of love and forgiveness. The message is not new. But it is a reminder that God is merciful, always has been, and that we too must show mercy, forgiveness and love to those around us as God has done for all of us.

There is a theme, “Fear nothing; I am always with you,” found in the Diary of St. Maria Faustina, p 586. Our response to the Lord’s redeclaration of love requires a simple response, “Jesus I trust in You.” Perhaps you might like to make your prayerful response the same as St. Thomas’ response, “My Lord and my God.”

But here is the bottom line. There is a great re-emergence of merciful love among the faithful because human love often fails. Divine merciful love, on the other hand, relies on our understanding that God’s love is inexhaustible, always available, most helpful, and is to be shared, even with the greatest of sinners. “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My Mercy.” [Diary p723].

In the often turbulent times of the twentieth century, St. Faustina gave three responsibilities to those who wish to celebrate/partake in Divine Mercy Love.

1) The believers in Jesus must remind  the whole world that there is a love greater than human love. His Divine, Merciful, ever present love is revealed in the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.

2) The believers in Jesus must ask for Divine, Merciful Love for themselves and for the whole human race, and must do so in a definite practice (frequent Mass, reception of Holy Communion; frequent formal and informal prayer, e.g. Chaplet of Mercy).

3) Imitate Jesus, the saints, and St. Maria Faustina by practicing the corporal works of mercy. The Catholic Catechism of the Church (p588, Liberia Editrice, Vaticana 1944) has the following inclusion:

2447   The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.241 Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead.242  Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity; it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.243 He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food must do likewise.244 But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you.245 If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?246

2448 “In its various forms – material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death – human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Saviour, who willingly took it upon Himself and identified Himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those who are opposed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere.”247

241          St. Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis 3, 21: PL 77, 87.

242          Cf. Isa 58:6-7; Heb 13:3.

243          Cf. Mt 25:31-46.

244          Lk 3:11.

245          Lk 11:41.

246          Jas 2:15-16; cf. 1Jn 3:17.

247          CDF, instruction, Libertatis conscientia, 68.

     So we pray:  Lord Jesus, Your mercy is from generation to generation. You call us, in our times, to imitate and practice Your Loving, Divine Mercy. Teach us to turn to You for direction, love, and help in our lives so that we may extend that same direction, love, and help to others. A prayer we make, trusting in Your Divine Mercy, Lord Jesus, for You live forever and ever.  Amen.

Rev. A. J. Geraci

St. Paul Church

Yellow Springs

There was a very interesting couple visiting the Holy Land, Israel to be sure. The husband was old George and his wife was Gertrude. George and Gertrude had a long time married relationship that was like oil and water, or sometimes like a lit match, next to gasoline. In any case, George and Gertrude were visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. George got sick. Fr. Peter Vasko, chief Franciscan at the hostel next to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, anointed George and he died with minutes of the anointing. Gertrude immediately contacted the local Christian undertakers. It was determined that it would cost $20,000.00 to embalm old George and send him back to Ohio. But it would cost only $2,000.00 to have old George buried in Israel. What to do? Gertrude decided that George was going back to Ohio and be buried there. Fr. Vasko asked Gertrude why she was going to such expense? Gertrude looked at Fr. Vasko and said, “Fr. Vasko, this is the land of Israel, the Holy Land. It is also the land of the resurrection, and one resurrection in this world is enough! I don’t dare take a second chance with old George.”

Yes, one resurrection is enough, the Resurrection of Jesus. Can you imagine being Mary of Magdala or one of the Apostles? The unimaginable is imagined. The impossible is possible. The unbelievable   is   now  a  belief,  that Jesus suffered, died, was buried, and rose on the third day. Through Jesus, the veil that had veiled God and made God distant is destroyed. We most especially experience the eternal nature of God in Jesus’ resurrection. Eternity is breaking in all around us because of Christ’s resurrection. Here is how St. Matthew records the event of resurrection which includes a reference to the faithful believers, to people like all of you and even old George.

“And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth  quaked,  rocks  were  split, tombs were open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earth quake and all that was happening and they said, ‘Truly, this was the Son of God!’” [Matthew 27: 51-54].

In application I would ask all of you to make a journey, “walk the faith.” Allow yourselves to walk through the prophets and lessons of the Old Testament and see, hear, and understand how they pointed to Jesus, Son of God.

Then walk with the Apostles in their letters to the Christian Communities, see, hear, understand how the Apostles had first hand experience with Jesus. Finally, walk the faith with Jesus. To help yourselves walk the faith well, prepare yourselves in the following ways. Let’s start with the Mass: 1) Clear your mind of all distractions and troubles the best you can. 2) Recall that you are entering into another dimension of reality, a spiritual reality. 3) If you get through stages one and two, then allow yourselves to enter a state of altered consciousness. To explain, have you ever  concentrated so well on driving and getting to your destination, you forgot how you    got    there?    It’s    called    altered state of consciousness. You might want to say in the back of your mind, all the while participating and praying, “Jesus lead me, Jesus help me, Jesus guide me, Jesus guide me, Jesus guide me. Those words will open a few religious dimensions in your brain,  soul, and resurrection awareness will start pouring in. 1) Clear your mind; 2) Recall that this Mass is another reality; and 3) Enter an altered state of consciousness and the resurrection of Jesus will speak.

So we pray:  Lord Jesus, You have risen as you said. With the Apostles and with Mary Magdala we stand bewildered but hopeful; confused but anchored in our belief that Christ’s love and care for us is not just for a moment, or a day, but for all time, even unto eternity. Lord Jesus, Your power of resurrection was meant for each of us. It is a gift unimaginable, but it is here, because You are here in this Easter celebration of the Eucharist and You live forever and ever.  Amen.

Rev. A. J. Geraci

St. Paul Church

Yellow Springs, OH

Excerpt:  On this day of days we offer a joyful sacrifice of praise to the Father who raised his Son from the dead.  Let us be intent upon the life Christ offers us, Christ our Passover wh has been sacrificed.