Saturday, April 10, 2021

Fr. Emmanuel Megwara, MSP - Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter - April 11, 2021

DATE : 11/4/2021

 EVENT : Second Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday

 COLOUR: White

 READINGS : Acts 4:32-35; Resp. Psalm 117:2-4,15-18,22-24;  1John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31.

 THEME: CALLED TO BE MERCIFUL LIKE THE FATHER

         Greetings beloved people of God. I welcome you to "My Catholic Homily Digest". On this Eleventh day of April, which is also the second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, I wish to reflect with you on the theme: " Called To Be Merciful Like The Father". Beloved, apart from love, one of the greatest attributes of God is mercy. In fact, the love of God is made tangible in the way He treats us with unreserved mercy. That is why the Psalmist prays, 'if you oh Lord should mark iniquity, Lord, who would survive' (Ps. 130:3). This explains why Fr. Henry Emeka, MSP, once said that, "God is scandalously merciful. If not how do we explain his relentless mercy to us humans, who ceaselessly hurt his infinite love." I believe that it is in the nature of God to love and to show mercy. No wonder the book of Lamentations 3:22-23, tells us that, 'the steadfastness of the Lord never ceases, His mercy is new every moment'. So, it is fitting that following immediately after Easter Sunday, the Church is celebrating and wants us to expound on the mercy of God today. This is because, the entire work of Salvation, the passion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus from the dead, rest on the Mercy of God towards humanity.

    Furthermore, although the Church has always been conscious of God's mercy, the proper celebration of God's Mercy in the Church's liturgy started only  two decades ago. On 30 April, 2000, when St. Pope John Paul II canonized St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, and made the second Sunday of Easter to be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. Now, St. Faustina was a Polish nun gifted with mystical visions, messages and revelations from the Risen Jesus. One of such visions  occurred on 22 Feruary, 1931, when Jesus Christ appeared to her in a vision. According to her, she saw Jesus clothed in white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching His garment in the area of the Heart, from where two large rays poured forth, one red and the other whitish blue. She gazed intently at the Lord in silence, as her soul was filled with awe and with great joy. Jesus said to her: Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus also made a promise to her that, the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. He also promised victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. He also said, I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world (Diary 47). Now, this is a rare instance where a personal revelation is authenticated to the degree that it becomes a Sunday celebration by the Universal Church.

          Being confused about the significance of the image in her vision, St. Faustina asked the Lord about the meaning of the rays in the image. She heard the reply: The two rays stands for Blood and Water. The whitish blue ray stands for the Water which flowed out of my side and which makes souls clean and righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which also flowed from  my pierced side, and which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of my tender love and mercy when my agonized Heart was pierced by a lance on the Cross Jesus said to her.  Further more, Jesus tells us the meaning of this water in John 7:38-39, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’ this is in reference to the Spirit that those who will come to believe in him will receive.” Thus, in the second reading of today, St. John says, “This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth.” Regarding the blood, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Thus, by shedding his blood on the cross, Jesus has opened the fountain of God's superabundance mercies. And to continue showing the mercy of God to sinners, Jesus, through and in the Gospel of today, John 20:19-31, empowered and commanded his apostles and by extension the Catholic priests of today, to be the channels by which the people of God will concretely experience the mercy of God.

 The Sacrament of Mercy and  Reconciliation

    Child of God, recall that God (Jesus) is the author of the seven sacraments of the Church; and the last to be instituted was the sacraments of penance by which Jesus intends the work of saving souls and revealing the merciful face of God be continued. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sacrament of Penance or reconciliation is also called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution, God grants the penitent "Mercy and Peace" (CCC. 1424). More so, this sacrament of God's mercy, is instituted to always offer a new possibility of conversation and to regain justification for those who have fallen into grave sin and thus lost the baptismal grace (CCC 1446). So as sinners (Rom..3:23), who are constantly in the need of God's Mercy, let us make use of today's Divine Mercy Sunday, to offer a truly act of contrition to God, to desist from trivialising the Sacrament of Confession, and constantly rush to the fountain of God's Superabundant mercy that we may always bath in His gracious mercy and so gain access to the heavenly home He has prepared for each of us.

      Finally, dearest in Christ, I wish to end this homily with an extract from the homily of St. Pope JohnPaul II, delivered at the canonisation of St. Faustina in 2000. "In the various readings of today, the liturgy seems to indicate the path of mercy which, while re-establishing the relationship of each person with God, also creates new relations of fraternal solidarity among human beings (Cf. the first reading). Christ has taught us that man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called to practise mercy towards others: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgives sins but reaches out to all human needs." So as beneficiaries of the divine Mercy of God, let us try to be ambassadors and beacons of God's mercy in a world bedeviled with hatred, vengeance, war, conflict, hunger, disease, terrorism, and poverty.

Jesus.......I trust in You

Jesus.......I trust in You

Jesus.......I trust in You

Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts (Ps.95:7-8).

 LET US PRAY : God, the Father of mercies through the death and the resurrection of his Son had reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God continue to give you pardon and peace.

The Lord be with you....... and with your Spirit.

 May Almighty God bless you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ....Amen

 

 HAPPY DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY BELOVED FRIENDS

 @ Fada Emmanuel Nnamdi Megwara, MSP.

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