Second Sunday of Easter [A]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Divine Mercy Sunday<\/p>\n\n\n\n
April 15, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John 20:19-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On April 30, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II has declared the Second Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday. Then, the question is \u201cWhy did St. John Paul II choose second Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday?\u201d Partially, the answer is related to the diary of St. Faustina, who recorded Jesus\u2019 instruction to make the second Sunday of Easter as the divine Mercy Sunday. Through St. Faustina, Jesus did not only ask to create the divine Mercy Sunday, but also invite the faithful to make confessions and receive the communion in this day. However, what makes the second Sunday of Easter is worth to be called the Divine Mercy Sunday is the Gospel of the day. Let\u2019s explore further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John the evangelist narrated the two appearances of the risen Christ to His disciples, at the Sunday of resurrection and the following Sunday. Obviously, the connecting protagonist is St. Thomas, apostle. However, aside from the story of Thomas, there is a particular detail that we often miss. Jesus rose from the dead to give this particular grace of the Holy Spirit to His Church, \u201cPeace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.\u201d And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, \u201cReceive the Holy Spirit.If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:21-23).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus came not only to show His resurrection and offered peace to His fearful disciples. He sent His disciples as the Father sent Jesus to the world. As He commissioned His disciples, Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit. This Jesus\u2019 act is particularly re-enactment of what God did when God made the first humans alive (see Gen 2:7). Thus, He came to recreate His disciples and to send them for a mission. What\u2019s mission?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the mission to forgive sins, or the mission of mercy. Jesus particularly recreated His disciples as to enable them to receive the divine power, that is to forgive sins. We recall in the Gospel that Jesus was accused as blasphemy when He forgave sins because the Pharisees recognized that the forgiveness of sins is God\u2019s prerogative. Yet, Jesus rose from the dead and proved His divine nature. Thus, He indeed possesses the authority to forgive sins. But, He does not stop there. He wills that His Church continue His mission of mercy, and thus, He shares this divine authority to His disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the biblical foundation of the sacrament of reconciliation. This event also answers an objection, \u201cwhy do we need to confess our sins and ask forgiveness to another sinful man?\u201d The answer is simple: because God wills it to be so. It is true that men have no power to forgive sins, but the situation radically changes when God shares this divine authority to His representatives on earth and commissions them to bring more and more people to the divine Mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the practice of confession of sins has been practiced since the primitive Church. St. James recorded in his letter that the faithful were confessing their sins before the Church and the prayer of the righteous men, that is, the elders of the Church, would bring healing and forgiveness (see James 5:14-16). Throughout the centuries, the rite of the sacrament of reconciliation has indeed evolved, but it retains its basic structure, that is, contrition, confession and satisfaction (see CCC 1448). More fundamentally, the sacrament remains the testament of God\u2019s Mercy to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rome<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Divine Mercy and Sacrament of Confession<\/p>\n
Second Sunday of Easter [A]
\nDivine Mercy Sunday
\nApril 15, 2023
\nJohn 20:19-31<\/p>\n
On April 30, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II has declared the Second Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday. Then, the question is \u201cWhy did St. John Paul II choose second Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday?\u201d Partially, the answer is related to the diary of St. Faustina, who recorded Jesus\u2019 instruction to make the second Sunday of Easter as the divine Mercy Sunday. Through St. Faustina, Jesus did not only ask to create the divine Mercy Sunday, but also invite the faithful to make confessions and receive the communion in this day. However, what makes the second Sunday of Easter is worth to be called the Divine Mercy Sunday is the Gospel of the day. Let\u2019s explore further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58,67],"class_list":["post-11792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection","tag-valentinus-bayuhadi-ruseno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11793,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions\/11793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}