2nd Sunday of Easter 2024

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
April 7, 2024

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Happy Easter season!

As we know, the Easter season is the time from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And the Church invites us to live these next fifty days as one “great Sunday.” To live with joy and zeal and what St. Paul called the “newness of life” that comes to us in the Resurrection.²

And today, on this second Sunday after Easter, we celebrate “Divine Mercy Sunday,” — that beautiful image of there — because in his mercy, God has given us a new birth.

As St. John tells us in the second reading: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God … [and] whoever is begotten by God conquers the world!”

Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, that means we can be raised from the dead, too! And as he says, we can conquer the world!

We can be children of God, as he is the Son of God. Our whole life now can become a beautiful adventure, walking in Jesus’ footsteps, following the risen Lord, living in friendship with him.

Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, our lives have a new destination. We are bound for glory, we are on our way to heaven. We are destined now to share in a love that never ends, with Jesus and with the angels and with the saints.

And in the Gospel today, Jesus is, once again, speaking to each one of us, personally. To each one of us.

It’s a dramatic scene in the Gospel.  The apostles are afraid. The Gospel says, “the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear.”

And if we think about it, it kind of makes sense that they were afraid. Because they were the followers of a Man who had just been crucified by the government. They had to be worried that the authorities would be coming for them next.

But Jesus comes, and what does he do?

He speaks of peace: “Peace be with you,” he said, and then “he showed them his hands and his side.”

So my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is with us today and again he speaks of peace and shows his hands and his side to us.

We look upon him and we see his wounds. This is how much he loves us. This is the price he was willing to pay. For us.³

So this is why St. John Paul II declared this Sunday after Easter to be “Divine Mercy Sunday.”

Because God’s mercy flows into the world and into our lives through these sacred wounds, which are the source of the Church’s sacraments.

And as we know, the St. John Paul II was influenced by St. Faustina Kowalska, who made a painting of the Risen Jesus with rays of light flowing out of his wounded side — like the blood and water that flowed from his heart on the Cross.

So my dear brothers and sisters, like the Apostle Thomas, we are invited today to enter into that personal encounter with the mystery of our Lord’s mercy and his love for us.

In the presence of his holy wounds, Jesus calls us today, just as he called St. Thomas: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe!”

On that Easter night so many centuries ago, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. And so should we.

In this season of joy, we need to open our hearts to Jesus — just as he has opened his heart for us in dying on the Cross.

So, let us say today with St. Thomas: “My Lord and my God.”

And “My Lord and my God” means this: I will follow you, I will serve you. With your help, I will love as you show me how to love; I will live for others, as you lived for others.

So yes, today Jesus is inviting us to give our lives to him, as he gave his life for us. Now, he is calling us to love him and to serve him, and to follow him.

Now he is calling us to live for him.

And then, yes he is giving us a mission, the same mission that he gave to his disciples on that first Easter: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” he said to them and he says to us.

Jesus is sending us out into the world — to continue his mission in our times. He is sending us out to bring his peace, his good news, and his life to our world.

As Jesus announced his salvation through the first witnesses to his Resurrection, he announces his salvation in this generation, through our witness.

It is a beautiful mystery of God’s plan of salvation that he involves each of us, inviting us to play our part in sharing the joy that we have found in Jesus.

So let us try to live these next fifty days — and for that matter, our whole lives — proclaiming the joy of the Gospel, proclaiming Jesus Christ has risen. And we do that in the simplicity of our daily life, trying to be faithful to our vocation to be missionary disciples.

And may Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, protect and guide us, and keep us always close to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.