Acts 2.42-47 | 1 Peter 1.3-9 | John 20.19-31

Alleluia! Christ is alive! We are in Easter Season, beginning the second week, more precisely on Divine Mercy Sunday.

Today the evangelist John tells us about the first appearances of the risen Jesus to the disciples and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

The appearances occurred on the first day of the week, that is, on Sunday. The disciples were afraid of the Jews. Despite the closed doors, the risen Jesus appeared among them, with the greeting of peace. The disciples rejoiced. Jesus sent them and breathed on them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit, giving them authority to forgive and retain sins.

In the first appearance, the apostle Thomas was not among the disciples. Despite their testimony, he did not believe. In the second appearance, while among the disciples, Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus and touched His glorious Body with the marks of the nails in His hands and the spear in His side, declaring Jesus' lordship and divinity. But the Risen One declared blessed those who believed without having seen.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and let us have life in His Name. Let us allow Him to transform our fear into joy. He is the Prince of Peace. His glorious Body is no longer subject to the laws of time and space and can appear wherever and whenever He wants. Let us value Sunday and the community as a time and place to experience the resurrected Jesus. Let us experience divine mercy and proclaim it to the world.

Today the evangelist Luke speaks to us in the book of Acts of the Apostles about the community of Jews converted to the Christian faith in Jerusalem.

They persevered in listening to the apostles' preaching, in the breaking of bread (Eucharist), and in prayers. They lived together and shared everything in common. Every day they went to the Temple, broke bread in their homes, and ate together with joy and simplicity of heart. They were esteemed by all the people, and each day the Lord added to their number those who would be saved.

This is a portrait of the Christian community in Jerusalem, which Luke presented as an ideal to be achieved.

Let us be inspired by this portrait and seek coherence between faith in the risen Christ, the commitment to fraternal life in community, and the sharing of goods and money with those most in need.

Today the apostle Peter speaks to us in his first letter about the great value of loving and believing in the Lord without having seen Him, thus obtaining salvation.

In the great mercy of God the Father, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, He caused Christians to be born again (Baptism), to a living hope.

Peter did not deny the affliction for a time due to trials, but the apostle announced an unspeakable and glorious joy as a reward for a faith tested and proven, like gold that is tested in the fire.

Let us walk in the hope of the manifestation of the risen Christ, so that we may receive through faith the incorruptible inheritance, reserved for us in heaven.

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