This is the third week of Easter! We will continue to celebrate the Easter Season until Pentecost.  Today's readings are about the Mercy of God that has been revealed to humanity through the Crucifixion and Glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is what we are blessed to enter into when we celebrate the Eucharist. 

In the first reading, we see how the Ressurection Experience transformed St. Peter. 

He is no longer denying Jesus. Now he is fearlessly proclaiming Jesus as Crucified and Raised from the dead. Furthermore, he is fulfilling the commission of Jesus in the Gospel today when he proclaims, “Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” 

The Gospel is the account of the two disciples returning to the 11 apostles and their companion to tell them about what had happened on the road to Emmaus and how the resurrected Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 

I love that Jesus is then standing among them and His first words are "Peace be with you." and their response was to be startled and terrified.  Not even Jesus had His desired effect on people. Then he reminds them that the Scriptures needed to be fulfilled, “Thus it is written, that the Christ is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations,"

The Letter of St John continues this theme, "I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

We are called to live according to the Commandments of Jesus: Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbour as your self; and His new commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." 

These are the greatest commandments of Mercy! Our faith is easy to understand and very challenging to live. To love as Jesus has loved us, offering his life for us, should only take a lifetime. However, it will bring us the greatest Peace, Joy, and Hope.

Let us continue to pray for each other and with each other as we share the message of God's Divine Mercy during the Easter Season.

Fr. Gerard Monaghan