2024

April 7, 2024

ᐊHOMILIESCONNECTIONSHOLY SEEFR TONYᐅ

Faith and peace is the combination in which this Sunday’s liturgy summarizes the fundamental message. In the text of the Gospel we find them together, first peace as the gift of the risen Christ to his disciples, “Peace be with you,” then with the confession of faith of the incredulous Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” To this Jesus adds, “You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” The first reading indicates the effects of faith and peace: the union of minds and hearts, the communion of goods, the Apostles’ witness of the risen Christ. Finally, in the First Letter of Saint John, the great power of faith is emphasized, which is capable of overcoming the world (second reading).

DOCTRINAL MESSAGES

The four Gospels dedicate their last pages to Jesus’ apparitions to his disciples. They are apparitions that presuppose a certain faith in Jesus, although not in his Resurrection. Through his apparitions Jesus not only confirms faith in his person, but also ensures that the mystery of the Resurrection becomes part of the content of the faith of his disciples. This way Jesus completes their faith, enlightens it with a splendor that has lasted up to our days, and instills in them a peace that no-one will be able to remove from their heart. The disciples were not prepared for the shocking encounter with the risen Christ. In their imagination, the risen Christ was something impossible, incredible, the pure imagination of impressionable and feverish women: time would take them back to reality. This is why Jesus’ apparitions must have fallen upon them like a "bombshell" that terrified and astonished them. Was it possible? Was it real? Yes, they are not visions, it is the same Christ that we knew before he was crucified. Yes, he still bears on his body the glorious traces of the nails. And then the miracle happened: they believed in the Resurrection of Christ, they believed in the resurrection of man. And they could not but communicate this ineffable and magnificent experience to those they met on their path. And thanks to them, to their testimony of faith, after twenty centuries we continue to believe in the resurrection.

A faith that does not change man’s life, does not transform his mental and vital, relational and operational categories, is not true faith in the risen Christ. Very conscious of this, Saint Luke talks to us about the effectiveness of faith among the first Christians of Jerusalem. The first fruit is the union between thinking and loving, because their thoughts were nourished by the teachings of the apostles and their desires were uniquely guided by their sincere love for one another. When the experience of the risen Christ is at the center of one’s life, then the differences in thinking and loving count very little, to the point that they are easily subjected to the power of sincere love. A second fruit is the communion of goods, to end not only ideological differences, but also economic differences, fulfilling the wish expressed by Moses in Dt 15:4, "There must, then, be no poor among you." The third fruit is the witness that the Apostles bear to the risen Christ: the frequency, the ardor, the audacity with which they preach this mystery that has transformed their existence forever. They can’t stop talking about what they saw and heard, as Peter will say in another episode of the Acts of the Apostles. This effectiveness of faith especially becomes manifest through peace, this integral peace that impregnates all of the believer with Christ and that flourishes in joy, and especially in love. This peace which is a gift of the Spirit that the risen Christ "blew" upon the disciples, as in a new creation.

PASTORAL SUGGESTIONS

The word "world" in the New Testament means several things: the universe, humankind and, in the moral sense, everything that opposes Christ and his revelation, everything that is sin. We refer to this latter sense when we say that faith is the only thing that can overcome the world. Human laws may improve the conduct of citizens, but they cannot defeat sin; furthermore, sometimes such laws are "mundane" for they allow or even promote actions that attack man’s very dignity. Institutions (charitable, social, educational, religious, institutions etc.) help man to build himself, but they cannot take away from humankind the world of sin and of opposition to Jesus Christ and his message. The human being left to his own devices is even less capable of eradicating evil and sin from himself and others. He may wage a titanic, heroic war, but his intent will always fail. The only thing that with absolute certainty can and is guaranteed to overcome and annihilate the evils of the world is faith in the risen Christ. A whole faith, that does not exclude any of the mystery of Christ; a living faith, that animates and gives meaning to man’s actions and activities; a working faith, that takes concrete shape in works of justice, solidarity, of Christian charity; a burning and passionate faith, which communicates its passion to others. Does your faith really overcome the world? Are these the characteristics of your faith, of the faith of the Christians with whom you live?

Faith in the risen Christ, joy and the love that spring from faith in the Resurrection must be present and active every day of our life. But this is true in a special way on Sunday. And yet, for many weekends are just a chance to go wild, or experience Sundays in a passive and lazy way… Could it be that many Christians have the wrong and unjust idea of what Sundays are in God’s plans? This is a wonderful opportunity to read the numbers dedicated to this ecclesial celebration in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (nn. 2174-2188; 1166-1167).

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Pope Francis
Homilies

“The Resurrection of the Disciples”

10 April 2021 | Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia

The risen Jesus appeared to the disciples on several occasions. He patiently soothed their troubled hearts. Risen himself, he now brings about “the resurrection of the disciples”. He raises their spirits and their lives are changed. Earlier, the Lord’s words and his example had failed to change them. Now, at Easter, something new happens, and it happens in the light of mercy. Jesus raises them up with mercy. Having received that mercy, they become merciful in turn. It is hard to be merciful without the experience of having first received mercy.

First, they receive mercy through three gifts. First, Jesus offers them peace, then the Spirit and finally his wounds. The disciples were upset. They were locked away for fear, fear of being arrested and ending up like the Master…

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The Word “See”

8 April 2018 | Saint Peter’s Square

In today’s Gospel, we hear, over and over, the word “see”. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (Jn 20:20). They tell Thomas: “We have seen the Lord” (v. 25). But the Gospel does not describe how they saw him; it does not describe the risen Jesus. It simply mentions one detail: “He showed them his hands and his side” (v. 20). It is as if the Gospel wants to tell us that that is how the disciples recognized Jesus: through his wounds. The same thing happened to Thomas. He too wanted to see “the mark of the nails in his hands” (v. 25), and after seeing, he believed (v. 27)…

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“Touching” the Paschal Mystery

12 April 2015 | Saint Peter’s Square

[Thomas] was able to “touch” the Paschal Mystery which fully demonstrated God’s redeeming love (cf. Eph 2:4). All of us too are like Thomas: on this second Sunday of Easter we are called to contemplate, in the wounds of the Risen One, Divine Mercy, which overcomes all human limitations and shines on the darkness of evil and of sin. The upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will be an intense and extended time to welcome the immeasurable wealth of God’s love and mercy, the Bull of Indiction for which I promulgated yesterday evening here, in St Peter’s Basilica. That Bull begins with the words: “Misericordiae Vultus”: Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s Mercy. Let us keep our gaze turned to Him, who always seeks us, waits for us, forgives us; so merciful, He is not afraid of our wretchedness. In his wounds He heals us and forgives all of our sins. May the Virgin Mother help us to be merciful with others as Jesus is with us.

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