A Commentary and Reflection on the Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday – Year B. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray. READINGS: Acts 4:32-35, 1 John 5:1-6, John 20:19-31.
The Easter Event, as a Moral Act by God, Proves the Divine Law of Inertia
If we were to consider the Easter event through the construct of Catholic moral theology as there being an intention that produces moral acts within a body of circumstances and consequences, we would say that the intention of our Lord Christ Jesus was to free us from sin and death, with the associated moral actions of accomplishing that divine mercy being His sacrificial death on the Cross and rising from death on the third day. The most significant circumstance and consequence of the salvific act that contributed to increasing the moral goodness of the moral actions is the admirable exchange; that is, God, becoming man so that man could become like God through the liturgy of the Catholic Mass and the sacraments of His one Church established on earth.
A sign that there has been an action, rather than inaction, is that something has changed because of that action. In other words, if nothing was acted upon, the thing continues, but if it is acted upon, then the course changes. In this way, Sir Isaac Newton’s law of inertia also relates to Catholic moral theology, saying that an object in motion continues in motion unless acted upon by a net external force. Since the sin of our first parents, the world has been in motion toward sin and death. It was only the Easter event that was able to stop that descent of humanity. On that day, an immovable, impassible, and immutable God stopped the object of sin and death. From there forward, our Eternal Father changed the course of salvation history by putting the entirety of it into the Body of His Beloved and only Begotten Son, Christ Jesus, through whom all things would be reconciled back to the Father. According to this divine law of inertia, nothing on earth or in Heaven can stop the motion of salvation because it is the will of God. In other words, what God has put into motion through His Son will stay in motion until the work He was sent to do has been completed.
Allow me to continue to press this image of the Easter event as a moral action by God that resulted in a new trajectory or a host of consequences by considering the Reading at Mass today for the First Sunday of Easter – Year B, which Saint Pope John Paul II has given the title’ Divine Mercy Sunday.’
I find it to be beautiful that the First Reading today from Acts 4:32-35, the Second Reading from 1 John 5:1-6, and the Gospel Reading from John 20:19-31 all inform us that the theological or merciful marks of the Church; this she is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, are how we might describe the broader the consequences of the Easter event. Again, a moral action taken means that something has changed as a result of that action. In the instance of the First Reading, notice how the community of believers is described as “of one heart and mind,” meaning that they were one. It was not just some of them, but the text says, “great favor was accorded them all,” which means that the community was also catholic or universal. They were believers in apostolic witness, meaning their community was Apostolic or of the Apostles. There were no needs among them, meaning they were people of great mercy and love. The Second Reading describes a people who, because of the person of the Easter event, Jesus Christ, have been set on a path to holiness; a people who love one another, merciful to one another because they “love God and obey his commandments,” and because they keep His commandment, they are able to participate in His life and His victory over sin and death.
The four theological or merciful marks of the Church of Christ Jesus are in no way distinct from the person of Christ Himself. Rather, we could even say there are idioms of His and the Holy Spirit’s mission: to make us all one, holy, and to send us out as apostles to participate in their mission of love and mercy for the salvation of all. The most apparent evidence of these circumstances of the Easter event is peace, which is more than a verb or a state of being, but rather is a person named Jesus Christ. Indeed, wherever we find true peace, we also find Jesus Christ. The Gospel Reading today says it this way, “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” The liturgy of the Catholic Mass also reminds us that ‘peace being with us’ is a consequence of the Easter event and one of the highest of goods in our new trajectory. The Gospel Reading also points to the fact that our ascent to holiness and unity with God comes through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation that was given to His Apostolic Church and to be administered by the Apostles, saying, “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.” Therefore, every time we accept the mercy of God by attending to confession and having our sins absolved through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, we are given the grace to rejoice for having the immovable, impassible, and immutable force of God immediately stop us from going any further down the path of sin and death and setting us on a path to life, which in Him. This is the Divine Mercy of God.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
