2nd
Sunday of Easter
at St.
Mary’s in Salem
10-11 April
2021
Acts 4:32-35
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn
20:19-31
Praised be Jesus Christ, Alleluia!
On this 2nd Sunday of Easter,
Divine Mercy Sunday, let me draw your attention to the message announced in our
2nd Reading for today, taken from the first letter of St. John.
“And the victory that conquers the
world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
I suppose people generally have little
difficulty talking about victory, as in Christ’s victory over sin and
everlasting death through His passion, death, and resurrection. The question would
be how does that apply to the average Christian in his or her life? When do you
ever hear people in Catholic circles talk about us, you and me, conquering not
sin and death in Jesus Christ, but conquering the world by reason of our faith in
Jesus the Son of God? Let us say it another way! What does faith have to do
with conquering the world?
“And the victory that conquers the
world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
We know that faith has to do with getting to heaven when we
die, but conquering the world is something different. How many people really
think that as Catholic people we are primarily focused on conquering the world?
Granted, people will concede a moral dimension to Catholic faith; they will say
it has something to do with being a decent citizen and that implies a certain obedience
or subjection to God’s Law. But subjection unto victory may seem hard to grasp.
There is a dimension of achievement in practicing the faith. Generally,
we speak of the practice of the faith and commonly refer to getting to Mass on
every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. Our Mass attendance is an essential
part of the Catholic equation. Even so, whoever talks about our vocation to
faith as Catholics as being our way to conquer the world?
Did St. John intend this text to be understood just
as we read it here in English? Out of
curiosity, I looked up the Latin Vulgate and the Knox Bible translation. The
Latin and our modern translation, based on the Greek original, correspond perfectly. The Knox Bible is quite helpful
in confirming our understanding, as it reads: “our
faith, that is the triumphant principle which triumphs over the world.”
[1]
Why did St. John speak about conquering here, about faith as
a triumphant principle, and what did he mean? How is it that as followers of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are out to conquer, yes, conquer the whole
world? Lots of nominally Catholic people would scoff at the very notion. There
is no getting around the idea that if we are talking about conquering, then we
are talking about bringing people to join us, to be part of the Catholic Church.
What other possible sense could conquest or triumphing have?
The key to understanding what we intend is wrapped up in the
understanding of what is meant by resurrection. I would contend that the person
who really and truly understands what resurrection from the dead is all about
is the one and only one to have any real or adequate idea of the significance for
the life of the world of Jesus’ rising from the dead.
With this in mind, let us reflect for a
moment on the Gospel account of my patron Saint Thomas the Apostle. What in
effect happens when Thomas gives up his sorrowing over the death of Jesus and
places his faith in the Risen Lord? What happens when Thomas touches the wounds
from the nails in Jesus’ hands and places his hand in where the spear of the
soldier opened up Jesus’ side? Thomas cries out, “My
Lord and my God!” He does not
simply say “My Jesus, it is truly you!” No, he says much more in saying, “My
Lord and my God!”
It is here that we discover the nexus
between faith and conquering. Prior to Thomas’ confession of faith in the Risen
Lord, in today’s Gospel scene we witness the appearance of the Risen Christ to
the other apostles. He takes away the fear of the disciples, empowering them,
sending them out with the power of judgment, the power to either forgive
people’s sins or to hold them bound. As a prelude to that empowerment, He
showed them His hands and His side, the evidence that through death He had won
the victory, Jesus was the conqueror of sin and death.
Sadly, people today are embarrassed/apologetic
about rejoicing in the victory of Christ in the glory of the Resurrection. Why?
Basically, because their faith is not in Jesus, the Son of God. Their faith
falls way short of what it should be. “My
Lord and my God!” If you said it and truly meant it, that confession of St.
Thomas would take all the blasé out of your believing. Very simply, you would
be set on fire. The most common and concrete expression of this kind of faith
in the life of a Catholic is something we commonly experienced over a half
century ago by mixed marriages. Often the non-Catholic party joined the Church
before the wedding or at some point thereafter. I remember when I was 16 years
old, my uncle, who had never been baptized but who had always taken my mother’s
older sister to church, over the years joining her more and more until he
finally decided at age 60 to be baptized a Catholic. I know because he told me
so when he asked me to be his sponsor. With just the parish priest and me as his
sponsor present, while my aunt was very sick in the hospital, he was baptized
and confirmed. My uncle explained to me that he did it for her so that she
would not die without knowing him to be a Catholic. She got better and they had
maybe twenty years of shared Catholic faith. Was it married love that won the
day? Could be! But it certainly was the faith of the Church which conquered and
brought him to baptism.
“our faith, that is the triumphant principle which
triumphs over the world.” It is a matter
of seeing Jesus for Who He is, namely the Son of God!
Praised be Jesus Christ, Alleluia!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
[1] et hæc est victoria, quæ vincit
mundum, fides nostra. Quis est, qui vincit mundum, nisi qui credit quoniam Jesus
est Filius Dei? (Vulgate)
and this is the victory which overcameth the world,
our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God? (Douay-Rheims)
our faith, that is the
triumphant principle which triumphs over the world. He alone
triumphs over the world, who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (Knox Bible)
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