DAILY MEDITATION: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”

Liturgical day: Second Sunday of Easter

Gospel text (Jn 20,19-31): On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”

Fr. Joan Ant. MATEO i García
(Tremp, Lleida, Spain)

Today, on the Second Sunday of Easter, we complete the octave of this liturgical season, one of the two octaves —together with Christmas— that remain in the liturgy renewed by the Vatican Council II. For eight days, we contemplate the same mystery and try to deepen our understanding of it in the light of the Holy Spirit.

By the design of Pope Saint John Paul II, this Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is something that goes far beyond a particular devotion. As explained by the Holy Father in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia, Divine Mercy is the loving manifestation of God in a history wounded by sin. In Latin “Misericordia” (which means “mercy”) comes from two words: “miser” (misery) and “cor, cordis” (heart). God puts our unhappy situation due to sin in His Father's heart, which is faithful to His plans. Jesus Christ, dead and risen, is the supreme manifestation and action of Divine Mercy. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3, 16) and sent Him to death so that we might be saved. "To redeem the slave, He sacrificed the Son," we proclaimed in the Easter Vigil. And once resurrected, He made Him a source of salvation for all who believe in Him. Through faith and conversion, we receive the treasure of Divine Mercy.

The Holy Mother Church, which wants her children to live the life of the Risen One, commands that we receive Holy Communion and do so in the grace of God —at least during the Easter season. Indeed, the Easter season is the opportune time for paschal fulfillment. It is a good time to confess our sins and to receive the forgiveness of our sins through the faculties that the risen Lord has conferred on his Church, when he said only to the Apostles: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them" (Jn 20,22-23). Thus, we will go to the sources of Divine Mercy. And let us not hesitate to bring our friends to these sources of life: the Eucharist and Penance. The risen Jesus counts on us.

Source: evangeli.net