“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them ‘Peace be with you.’” After a long two years of dealing with the pandemic, after having witnessed civil strife break out and manifest the division within our society, after seeing our hopes for a kingdom of justice and mercy come face to face with those in the world who still think that violence and bloodshed are reasonable means of action, how easy it is to put ourselves in the Upper Room with the apostles. The apostles were locked away in fear of persecution. They feared for their lives, so they remained hidden away. To this small group of people, Jesus appeared, calmed their fears, and breathed into them new life.

How beautifully the Scriptures teach us how to respond to the current crises in our world, we who too are locked away in fear, separated from each other, wondering where God is. And Jesus comes into the room and grants us peace. The words are powerful reminders that our God is the God of life.  Jesus breathes into the apostles the Holy Spirit, the holy breath of God. And the apostles who were afraid of death were given the gift of life.

The same Holy Spirit that hovered on the waters of creation, the same Holy Spirit that God breathed into all living creatures at that first creation, now recreates us with the very breath of God. Breath is life. Spirit is life. This is the gift that Christ gives his Church. The gift of peace, knowing that the Lord of the Living, Jesus Christ, has risen from the dead and shares the breath of life to those who fear death, sin, and darkness.

We read this Gospel every year on this Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. But it is a passage that we can read every day, because we know that there are so many people who are still locked away in the darkness of unbelief. There are those who remain behind the locked doors of sin, of addiction, of hatred and vengeance, of the spirit of evil which instead of breathing life, breathes death into our world.

In returning to the very same room where Jesus poured out his body and blood into the First Eucharist, Jesus not only restores the apostles to life in the Spirit, but he commissions them to share the Holy Spirit with others. Jesus grants peace to the apostles and then says, as you have been forgiven, so you must go forth and spread the Gospel of Forgiveness, the Gospel of Divine Mercy. The apostles have been given the gift of Peace, and now they must share the peace with others.

In addition to the great commission to the Church to be a vessel of God’s Mercy through the forgiveness of sins, the Scriptures also teach us how to live as a Church. This season’s readings from the Acts of the Apostles describe how the early Church lived, and so give us the model of Church. This is how people who believe in the Resurrected Lord live:  They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. These are the four pillars of the Church even today, as witnessed in the four divisions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is the teaching or the deposit of faith that is passed on from the Apostles to us. There is the sacramental life of the Church whereby we encounter Christ’s saving grace. There is the moral life of the Church, how we share community and live each day, and the life of prayer in the Spirit. We are called to bring the poor, the sick, those captive to sin into our midst to experience the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.
This has been the model of religious life throughout the ages. It is what a Catholic parish needs to be. We are not complete unless we have built our parish upon the pillars of tradition and the Scriptures, sharing our resources as a community, celebrating the sacraments, and lives immersed in prayer and the Holy Spirit. And this must be the model for the domestic Church. Every family, every Catholic household must be built on these four pillars if it is going to withstand the power of evil in this world. No family must neglect studying the word of God and the deposit of the faith. A holy family is living as a community of love and forgiveness, sharing the joys and sorrows of life together. A Christian family is faithful to the sacraments of the Church, first of all giving thanks to God for His blessings at every meal they share together, and making the Eucharist the heart of the family’s week. And finally, all families must pray. It is in prayer that we come to know God. It is in prayer that Christ visits us and breathes into us new life. It is in prayer that we hear God speak into our hearts as he comforts, guides, and strengthens us in our daily duties.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. The Church has given us an image to keep before us constantly. It is the picture of Jesus from whose heart pours forth the blood and water of the Church. This image is that of Jesus Christ as he appears to the apostles in the cenacle and shares with them his peace and gives them the Gift of the Holy Spirit that took away their fear and gave them the power to go forth from that room and spread the good news. The image of Divine Mercy is a portrait of today’s Gospel. Today we celebrate that first appearance in the locked room. But each day from now on, we can gaze upon that image and remind ourselves of the gift of peace, mercy, and the Holy Spirit who makes us into God’s people, that we can offer that mercy to others.