Sunday, April 11, 2021

1st Sunday after Easter 2021, Take Joy


1st Sunday after Easter

John 20:19-29


On the evening of the first day after

the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!”And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Full of joy, the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on, you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offenses.”

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”

Rembrandt
Eight days later, the disciples were a
gain gathered in the inner room, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”

Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.” And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”

2nd Easter
April 4, 2021
John 20:19-29

The disciples had locked themselves in out of fear. This year especially, we can imagine how their souls were in a state of agitation. Even though some of them had reported seeing Christ Risen, the shock waves of the previous week were still reverberating. Everything that had happened, the earthquakes, the torture and execution of their Beloved, His rising from the dead, it was all so stupefying. They retreat.

Then He appears. 'Look, He says, here are my wounds.
Coptic

I even died, but I am still radiantly and joyfully alive.' He brings them the gift of Himself. With that gift, He brings them another, the gift of calm tranquility. The creative Word of God speaks peace into their hearts. He breathes the love of His healing Spirit into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing."

Fear can signal important information to us: Danger may be near; we may need to take action to protect ourselves. But by His own actions, Christ indicates that we are nonetheless to move fairly quickly into a state of peace, balance, and tranquility.

Christ would have us work calmly, in peace and love, from the center of our being. And whether we see Christ or not, we can hear Him say to us in every Act of Consecration: 'My Peace can be with you because I give it to you.' The healing breath of His Spirit of peace is available for us to inhale always. We can always ask Him: Make me a channel of Your peace. For as Fra Giovanni said in the 16th century:

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future that is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.*


*Fra Giovanni Giocondo, written on Christmas Eve 1513.