'Hear the Word!' by Deacon Charles Paolino: Second Sunday of Easter

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

(Chapter 5:12-16)

The author strikes a theme in this passage that resonates with a vision of the Church articulated by Pope Francis: healing. Francis has struck that theme quite literally, writing, “The thing the Church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.” Inasmuch as we are the Church, the Body of Christ, that is a challenge for us as individuals as well as for the institution. We are called to greet our fellow worshippers—including and perhaps especially newcomers—with a combination of enthusiasm and warmth, and with no tinge of judgment, that will tell them that we are their brothers and sisters and that, regardless of their background or their state of life, this community, their parish, is their home. This is where they can feel safe and accepted and where, if need be, they can recover from spiritual wounds. 

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24)

This is Divine Mercy Sunday, and the psalm reminds us that God’s mercy “endures forever.” We should never doubt that God will forgive us when we turn to him in penance, and we are called to imitate his inexhaustible mercy and extend it to each other.

A reading from the Book of Revelation

(Chapter 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19)

In the vision the author describes in this passage, the risen Christ tells him, “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.” That was not a figure of speech. The Easter event, the Resurrection, was real, and Jesus is alive today. When we gather to worship, he is there. When we pray in solitude, he is there. Everywhere and always, he is there. Jesus is alive, a fact that should shape every aspect of our lives—everything we say, everything we do, and especially how we treat each other.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 

(John 20:19-31)

The apostle who is burdened with the sobriquet “Doubting Thomas” was not unique or even unusual in his hesitation to accept the idea that Jesus had risen from the dead. As a matter of fact, Luke’s Gospel tells us that the other apostles were incredulous when the women told them about the empty tomb and the men who announced that Jesus was alive. The Gospel says, “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Thomas’s misfortune, it seems, was that he doubted alone rather than in a group. The rest of the story in John’s Gospel tells us that Thomas overcame his doubt and proclaimed that Jesus was his Lord and God, and there is an extensive tradition about Thomas’s missionary work in the early days of the Church. He should be known as “Evangelizing Thomas,” an inspiration for anyone, including we who, despite the doubts that occasionally arise, renew our faith and carry on with our baptismal mission to live and spread the Gospel.   

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Painting: The Incredulity of St. Thomas, Michelangelo Merici (Caravaggio), 1601-1602. Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Potsdam, Germany. Public domain.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.

Charles Paolino is managing editor at RENEW International. He is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Metuchen.