This Sunday completes the Octave of Easter, one concentrated celebration of joy and thanksgiving for the good news of Jesus’ Resurrection, his victory over sin and death. In particular today we celebrate God’s steadfast love that remains constant, even when we are weak or unfaithful. The Hebrew word used in Psalm 118 is translated both “love” and “mercy” for it includes more than any one English word can convey.
God’s mercy includes the forgiveness of sins, and we rejoice that Jesus gave that authority to the apostles. But it also includes God’s promise of an imperishable inheritance kept in heaven for us, “the salvation of your souls,” as St. Peter wrote.
How then should we respond? Meeting the risen Christ inspires a reaction like the one St. Thomas had, “My Lord and my God!” It then gives us a whole new way of life, which affects the way we use our Time, our Talent, and our Treasure. Committed to “the communal life,” the Christians in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes.” Looking at the whole world in a new way, we’ll want to sing, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
