Hello, I’m Jeff Cavins, and today we’re looking at the readings for the second Sunday in Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. You know, I remember back when I was in fourth grade, my baby sister was born, which was great, but it put me in the basement bedroom. And while I was down in that basement bedroom, I developed an amazing fear because the moonlight at night would come through the window and cast very weird and scary shadows upon my walls. Oftentimes, I’d curl up in the corner of my bed with my back up against the wall, absolutely petrified—so petrified I couldn’t even leave the room to go tell my parents that something was going to happen to me.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in that situation before, where you’re so fearful about something. Maybe you’re fearful about something that you have to do, or maybe it’s the result of sin in your life, or maybe people are talking about you. In any case, it puts you in a state of fear that basically paralyzes you. And that’s what happens when we walk in fear. Fear puts chains on us, and we can’t do what God has really created us to do.
In the Gospel reading this week in John chapter 20, we see the disciples locked up in fear behind doors. It says, “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.”
Now, I like that reading because it talks about two things. One is the disciples were very fearful. They were fearful of what might happen to them because of their testimony, because of their belief in Jesus. And as a result of it, they’re locked behind doors. They’re locked up. They’re isolated. They don’t want anybody to know that they’re in that state of fear.
Now, the disciples are never going to change the world if they stay in that room locked up. And they may be thinking, “The only way we’re gonna get out of this is we’ve got to simply leave the room ourselves.” But I love this Gospel reading because it says, “Jesus came to them. He came and he stood in their midst.” In other words, the locks that were on the door were not enough to stop Jesus in his love. And it wasn’t enough to stop him from telling them about the mission that he called them to.
Know he came to them in the midst of their fear. And I’d like you to think this week: Are you locked up in fear? Are there things that are going on in your life that that perhaps have got you so locked that you cannot be that mother, you cannot be that father, you cannot be that generous single person, you cannot be that priest, Deacon, religious that God has called you to be?
I want you to know that right where you’re at this week, Jesus comes to you in the midst of your fear. He comes to you behind those locked doors, and he gives you divine mercy. Mercy is where God’s love meets your pain, and it meets your fear. And he wants to give you that mercy this week.
You know, tied to the reading, it goes on and says, “The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord, and Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.'” And that’s great. You go from fear to peace simply because Jesus has come on the scene. He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. That listen to this: whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
I’m going to mention this that might be of some help to you: Sometimes the fear that we experience is due to the sin that we have committed—not always, but sometimes. And if you’re in fear because of sin in your life, being caught, being exposed, of your life being ruined, don’t hide anymore. Go to confession and be free and experience the divine mercy of God.
Video Source:
- Title: Experiencing the Mercy of God
- Author: Jeff Cavins
- Source: YouTube: Sundays with Ascension
- Aired: April 5, 2018
- AscensionPress.com
Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church 