RENUNGAN – 12 APRIL 2026
2nd SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR A
Acts 2:42-47; 1 Pet 1:3-9; John 20: 19-31
REFLECTION:
We believe that the gifts of the risen Christ are given to us at baptism. They endure, with ever-growing strength, by our belonging to the community of believers. Easter, as the holy Father said, is the most important and beautiful day of history.
Today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter year A. In a special way, the Church enjoins us her faithful to continue to spread the good news that Christ our Lord has truly risen against the false testimonies of the chief priests, leaders, all those who conspired to crucify Christ, and of course the doubting Thomas’ of our time. We are called to celebrate the risen Christ and respond fully to the call of the Church this season to rejoice in the glory that is ours; giving thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who out of his mercy and generosity called us to have a share in the glory of Christ’s resurrection as well as to his kingdom.
By the grace of God, we also celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy. The famous image St. Faustina painted is of the “The risen Christ”, which is the ‘definitive incarnation of the divine mercy”, said St. John Paul.” And perhaps this linking of divine mercy and Easter and St Thomas and baptism, is a gift to us precisely as children of the 3rd millennium. Jesus promised that those who go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will receive not only forgiveness of their sins, but the total remission of all temporal punishment for their sins.
The first appearance of Jesus, is significant as the origin and the institution of the power of the Sacrament of Confession – the Sacrament of Divine Mercy. So, it is fitting that on this day we will both recall the appearance to Thomas that took place eight days after the resurrection and the institution of Confession which is the Sacrament of Divine Mercy.
We have heard that Christ appeared again to the disciples eight days later after the first day of the week. Thomas who had missed the first day made a magnificent act of faith. Thomas’ profession of Faith is the strongest evidence we have of the Resurrection of Jesus. It is an opportunity for us to personalised Easter, to make a profession of faith that is really our own, to make the Resurrection our own, to feel it resonating in our own lives and experience. And so what Jesus says to Thomas are words of love and also of vulnerability, which, of course, is the only way of love. The pains and difficulties and troubles along the way are only the gateways to the peace and joy of everlasting life with Jesus which is given to us here and now!”
The living Christ will take what is rooted in darkness and bring about new light, he will take what is sinful and he will forgive us, He will take what is impossible to do, which is to change the hearts of men and women, and He will change them. We are healed and saved by the wounds of Jesus, by his pains and sorrows, his agony on the cross, and ultimately his dying for us, because it is from touching his wounds and feeling his pain that we can understand God Himself, who has indeed come to be with us, not only in spirit, but also as the suffering servant and our Risen Lord.
We have heard in the first reading that the believers received the Sacrament of Baptism in order to be admitted into the Body of Christ. As believers, we are also strengthened by our punctual and active participation in the ‘Breaking of the Bread’ – the Eucharistic Liturgy and devote ourselves to the prayers.
St. Peter said, “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons”. He reminds us again what the feast of resurrection means to us and to the Christian faith we professed. He draws our attention to the gratuitous mercy of God towards us which culminates in His ‘giving us a new birth as His sons and daughters by allowing us share in the resurrection of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt.
However, we have a role to work towards this gratuitous promise in order to fulfil the hope we have; where according to Peter, ‘Through your faith God’s power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared for you is revealed at the end of time’, because only faith can grant us the fullness of a share in the resurrection of Christ. Meaning, we have not physically seen Jesus, yet we are called to believe and must come to know Jesus personally and intimately by our daily, meditative reading of the Bible; Strengthen our Faith through our personal and communal prayer and share in the Divine Life of Jesus by frequenting the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist. Living Faith enables us to see the risen Lord in everyone, and it gives us the willingness to render to each other our loving service.
So, like the disciples and apostles of Christ, let us continue by the power of the Holy Spirit with which Christ commissioned us today to continue to announce to all people that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead. We must not be bothered about the many Thomas’ we encounter in the course of bearing our witness to the risen Christ and join the Psalmist to, ‘Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His love endures forever. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
By Jimmy @ James Totu.
St. Michael’s Parish Penampang.
