Second Sunday of Easter
Sunday of the "Divine Mercy."

First Reading

Acts 5,12-16

The apostles worked many signs and miracles among the people. One in heart, they all used to meet in the Portico of Solomon. No one else dared to join them, but the people were loud in their praise and the numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily. Many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles so that the sick were even taken out into the streets and laid on beds and sleeping-mats in the hope that at least the shadow of Peter might fall across some of them as he went past. People even came crowding in from the towns round about Jerusalem, bringing with them their sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were cured.

Psalmody

Psalm 118b

Antiphon

Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord.

Remember your word to your servant
by which you gave me hope.

This is my comfort in sorrow
that your promise gives me life.

Though the proud may utterly deride me
I keep to your law.

I remember your decrees of old
and these, Lord, console me.

I am seized with indignation at the wicked
who forsake your law.

You statutes have become my song
in the land of exile.

I think of your name in the night-time
and I keep your law.

This has been my blessing,
the keeping of your precepts.

My part, I have resolved, O Lord,
is to obey your word.

With all my heart I implore your favour;
show the mercy of your promise.

I have pondered over my ways
and returned to your will.

I made haste and did not delay
to obey your commands.

Though the nets of the wicked ensnared me
I remembered your law.

At midnight I will rise and thank you
for your just decrees.

I am a friend of all who revere you,
who obey your precepts.

Lord, your love fills the earth.
Teach me your statutes.

Lord, you have been good to your servant
according to your word.

Teach me discernment and knowledge
for I trust in your commands.

Before I was afflicted I strayed
but now I keep your word.

You are good and your deeds are good;
teach men your statutes.

Though proud me smear me with lies
yet I keep your precepts.

Their minds are closed to good
but your law is my delight.

It was good for me to be afflicted,
to learn your statutes.

The law from your mouth means more to me
than silver and gold.

It was your hands that made me and shaped me:
help me to learn your commands.

Your faithful will see me and rejoice
for I trust in your word.

Lord, I know that your decrees are right,
that you afflicted me justly.

Let your love be ready to console me
by your promise to your servant.

Let your love come and I shall live
for your law is my delight.

Shame the proud who harm me with lies
while I ponder your precepts.

Let your faithful turn to me,
those who know your will.

Let my heart be blameless in your statutes
lest I be ashamed.

I yearn for your saving help;
I hope in your word.

My eyes yearn to see your promise.
When will you console me?

Though parched and exhausted with waiting
I remember your statues.

How long must your servant suffer?
When will you judge my foes?

For me the proud have dug pitfalls,
against your law.

Your commands are all true; then help me
when lies oppress me.

They almost made an end of me on earth
but I kept your precepts.

Because of your love give me life
and I will do your will.

Your word, O Lord, for ever
stands firm in the heavens :

your truth lasts from age to age,
like the earth you created.

By your decree it endures to this day;
for all things serve you.

Had your law not been my delight
I would have died in my affliction.

I will never forget your precepts
for with them you give me life.

Save me, for I am yours
since I seek your precepts.

Though the wicked lie in wait to destroy me
yet I ponder on your will.
I have seen that all perfection has an end but your command is boundless.

Second Reading

Revelation 1,9-11.12-13.17-19

I, John, your brother and partner in hardships, in the kingdom and in perseverance in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the Word of God and of witness to Jesus; it was the Lord's Day and I was in ecstasy, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like the sound of a trumpet, saying, 'Write down in a book all that you see, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.' I turned round to see who was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, 'Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and look -- I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and what is still to come.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 20,19-31

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained. Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, 'We have seen the Lord,' but he answered, 'Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.' Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. 'Peace be with you,' he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.' Thomas replied, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him: You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

In this second Sunday of Easter the Church invites us to celebrate God's mercy in the mystery of Easter finds its peak and source. The Gospel we heard narrates the first and second Easter as if to mark the time through Sundays that, since then, have reached us. In every liturgy the encounter with the Risen One comes true gain. Jesus "came and stood among them." He comes, not "appears." And his first words are a greeting of peace, "Peace be with you," as if to unites the resurrection and peace in an indissoluble way. It is not an obvious or merely ritual greeting. Jesus connects it immediately to the wounds on his body, as the evangelist notes, "After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side." There is no Easter without the wounds and we believers could add, there are no wounds without Easter, without resurrection. Listing the many wounds of the unnumerable crucifixes we cannot but start from wars. The Gospel of John, after narrating the first Sunday, tells us about the following one in which the apostle Thomas is present too and he does not believe the story of the first Easter. He was not a bad disciple, rather he was generous. Few days before, when they were about to go to Lazarus who was seriously ill, on behalf of all he said, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." He was too sure of himself, of his convictions. So much so that he answered those who told him they had seen the risen Lord, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe" (v. 25). We are not so different from Thomas, sure as we are of ourselves and our sensations. We too, like him, need to meet the Lord again, to listen to and touch him. And to live Easter. Even tonight, Jesus himself comes towards us and says, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe" (v. 27). Before that wounded body Thomas confesses his faith: "My Lord and my God!" And he proclaims it in a way that no one had done before, not even Peter. Jesus, turning to all those who would join later, even to us, adds, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (v. 29). It is the last beatitude of the Gospel; it is ours. Yes, faith, after Easter, comes from listening to the Word of god and from seeing and touching the wounds of people.