OUR SUNDAY’S IN APRIL

In the beginning, God breathed into the nostrils of Adam to bring him to life. John’s Gospel tells us that on the day of the Resurrection Jesus once again breathed life into the world as He breathed on the disciples telling them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. It was a new world with new life. The most important mark of this new life was the community was finally “of one heart and mind.” The community deeply believed that Jesus had commissioned the Apostles to carry on His mission in the world, and they laid everything at their feet as a way of acknowledging this belief. This was an act of humility, to respect those that now acted in the name and person of Jesus Himself.

Today, our Christian communities are filled with needy people. Many of the needy are working and hold very respected jobs but they do not make enough money to afford child care or like young soldiers defending this country who can’t adequately support their families. Stress reveals character, and our economy has revealed something of our spiritual character – a character tragically based on our current sense of justice. As families have had to reduce spending, their contributions to church and charities have been among the first things cut.

How does this speak to the highest virtues taught and preached by Jesus Christ and idealized in the Acts of the Apostles? This raises the question of how deeply we love God? The first letter of John tells us that “the love of God is this, that we keep His commandments.” A blunt observation is this: if we really loved God the world would look a lot different than it does today! There would be no needy person among us, and we would be of one heart and one mind united in and by our faith.

The Sunday after Easter we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. We should thank God that Jesus is called Divine Mercy, because we really need it! We are redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We remain, however, a people who do need to embrace the teachings of our Savior in ways that will affect the world. Instead of being children who believe that God owes us for our goodness, we should be people who thank God for God’s goodness. This humility will help us once again to be of one heart and mind and enable us to assist the needy however we may define “needy.” The practice of mercy is a practice of the kingdom of God, and it will change us and thus the world! Mercy is the beginning of justice, and a just world is the work of the community of believers – the Church!

The Most Rev. John P. Walzer, D.D.
Archbishop