Third Sunday of ; Cycle B

It has been two (2) weeks since Easter Sunday, two (2) weeks since our celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. Yet Easter is too significant of an event to be limited to a single day. If we are obedient, our celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection continues throughout the Easter , those eight (8) days which ended last Sunday, ; that day we recall the opening of the Floodgates of Heaven with the promise that, those who are faithful…will not perish AND we are given the promise of victory…at the hour of death.

Our observance of the Resurrection continues through the Easter Season and today is the third (3rd) Sunday of Easter. St. Luke moves us to reflect upon the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary as the events of today’s Gospel occur between the first (1st) and second (2nd) Mysteries…between Our Lord’s Resurrection and His Ascension. Specifically, Luke tells us of Our Lord’s appearance to the Disciples in Jerusalem…shortly after they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread.

Framed within this magnificent Gospel setting, let’s look at our first reading from the Book of Acts. “Peter said to the people…God…has glorified His servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when he decided to release Him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One…The author of life, you put to death!” (Acts 3:13-15) Peter, who just a short time before, had denied Our Lord three (3) times is now speaking in very strong language, telling the Jewish people, “You have put the author of life to death!” This is something they do not want to hear. In fact – he is most likely risking his life by speaking the truth.

For most of us, it’s OK to be told we have made a mistake, but none of us want to be scolded in public. We don’t want to be told that we’re corrupt, especially morally corrupt! We can tell each other many things, but when we tell someone they are morally corrupt, no one wants to hear that. Peter, the one given the authority to bind and to loose – has just told this crowd they have not only sinned, but they have killed the author of life.

But…he doesn’t leave them there with this guilt hanging over their heads …for he goes on to tell them, “…but God raised Him from the dead…” (Acts 3: 15) .

Prepared by: Deacon Tom Sanctis April 15, 2018 St. Ann Church; Charlotte, NC Page 1

Third Sunday of Easter; Cycle B

Then, returning to our Gospel, the Risen Jesus appears to His Disciples, who are again hidden away in the upper room and says, “Peace be with you!” …and they think they had seen a ghost…Even though they had been with Our Lord throughout His entire public ministry, they still did not anticipate His Resurrection! And since He had passed through a locked door He knew they were thinking, “This must be a ghost”. So He says to them, “Look at my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see that I have.” (Luke 24: 39)

Our Lord immediately connects His greeting of peace to the reality of His wounds. We know from our own experience that we best receive comfort when it comes from one who has experienced suffering. For example:

 If you have cancer, encouragement from a cancer survivor is more reassuring than that of one who has never suffered with cancer.  If your marriage is troubled, the inspirational example of a couple who have prayerfully and deliberately brought their marriage back from the brink of divorce is more likely to inspire us to not give up on our own troubled marriage.  The comforting reassurance of a family who has survived the trials of a child that has lost his way but returned to the welcoming arms of his family is more likely to encourage our similar embrace if that is the cross we carry.

The best consolation always comes from one who has been there, and by showing them His wounds Our Lord is showing them where He has been, what He has endured. The Risen Christ was wounded, suffered, and was crucified, and yet He lives! God the Father vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead. Thus, Our Lord’s wounds became our signs of hope and strength. His wounds are bound to His greeting of peace.

This greeting, “Peace be with you,” is a command to the disciples. He is encouraging them to leave the upper room. This greeting is meant to embolden the disciples, it encourages them to stop hiding, to get back in the game, as it were. This is a greeting of hope.

Prepared by: Deacon Tom Sanctis April 15, 2018 St. Ann Church; Charlotte, NC Page 2

Third Sunday of Easter; Cycle B

This same greeting, which we hear at every , calls us to hide no longer, it demands that we fear no more. Our time of spiritual cowering in our own upper rooms is over. We, like the Disciples, are called to face the world with courage and to spread the Good News.

Then, after He shares His greeting of Peace and asks them to examine His wounds; Jesus, as I think any man might, says, “Have you anything to eat?” (Luke 24: 41) With these simple acts of sharing a meal, touching Him in the flesh and seeing His wounds…Our Lord is saying, “It is me! I am here! Rejoice and be glad!

At this very moment Christ reveals to His Disciples that in Him, God has gone to the very limit, if not beyond the limit of what we can comprehend as being possible. For through His suffering and death, He has entered into all of our fears…He entered into our dysfunction…our sinfulness and even into our death! And He enters into this darkness for only one reason…so that He can find us! He comes to where we are with all the grace we need. That’s the mystery of the Cross – that’s the reason the day He suffered and died is called ‘Good’… because when Christ comes back from the dead, He brings us with Him.

How do we know this great act of love, Our Lord’s Resurrection, is our remedy for sin?…Because in our sinfulness we killed God, and God returned to us in forgiving love! We separate ourselves from God as far as we possibly can…with our sins we killed the Author of Life…and yet God pulled us back! That means there’s nothing that can separate us from the love of God, except…for our refusal to accept His love!

And that’s our message today and throughout the Easter season…we as Christians don’t discuss our virtue, nor do we sing our praises. What we do through our words and our deeds…is announce that God loves us! And because He does, He humbled Himself, entered into our humanity, and allowed His own heart to be pierced so that His Divine Life & Divine Mercy can be poured into each one of us!

Peace be with you!

Prepared by: Deacon Tom Sanctis April 15, 2018 St. Ann Church; Charlotte, NC Page 3