Divine Mercy Sunday

Our readings for the second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) are:

1. Acts 2: 42-47
2. Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
3. 1 Peter 1: 3-9
4. John 20: 19-31

• Communal living at its best
• Clearly, the early disciples enjoyed a deep sense of purpose.  If you were to get a moment with one of those first apostles, and asked them what their purpose was, what do you think they would say?
• How would you answer that question?  What is your purpose?
• What do you think has changed about the purpose of the Church at large since those days?
• Is that all good?

• Mercy identified
• Mercy comes to us in the form of forgiveness for our sins.  But that mercy is hard to appreciate, unless you get a good appreciation for what your sin has done to you.
• Where has God healed and restored you in your life?
• What would you be like today had you not experienced that healing?
• What can you do to be that healing presence to others?

• Keeping your eye on the prize
• In the business world, the phrase "keep your eye on the prize" encourages you to focus, don't be distracted by secondary matters, and thus accomplish great things.
• Do you think that your community(ies) have ever lost sight of the truly important and become obsessed with things that are merely there to serve a higher purpose?
• Why is it that we do that?
• Who/what is there to guard us from losing sight of the really important?

• Transformation
• Do you think that the infilling of the Holy Spirit is an event, a transition, a journey, a sacrament, all of the above, ...?
• Do you think that we are filled with the Spirit once and always, more so at sometimes than others, as the situation demands it, when we pray for that Presence, all of the above, ...?
• If you had to identify your anointing, how would you describe it?
• Why should you care?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I generous/generative to the communities to which I belong?
2. Where have I shown mercy in this past week?
3. What am I doing to better discern where God is taking me?
4. Which fears have I shed this last week?

Trading my sorrows

The alchemist's stone was supposed to allow those skilled in such arts
To transform base, common, metals into gold.
Certainly not as impressive as creating something from nothing,
But none the less impressive.

Picture Jesus standing before that angry crowd.
All of them armed with stones, and self righteousness.
Arrayed against Jesus, and one lonely woman caught in adultery.
Ready to purge her from their midst, ensure their purity.

Had I been there, I would have tried to reason with them.
And probably gotten stoned as well in the bargain.
But Jesus, in just a few words,
Turned that anger around, allowed them time for self-examination.

Then, one by one, they dropped their stones, suddenly irrelevant.
Embarrassing almost.
And they walked away, each deep in their own prayer
Leaving the mercy to Jesus.

Jesus never tried to deflect hatred, fear, anger.
Neither did He merely absorb it, deflected it, reflect it back.
But He transformed all of that into a gateway to the sacred,
An opportunity to meet God.

Which may be the truest sacrament of all,
The most amazing alchemy every attempted,
A daring place to stand for His far flung followers.
If only we dare.

Transformation is more than merely a catalog
Of nifty questions and sayings,
One for every occasion.
But a hope, a prayer, an insurrection

To change the world,
All of our attitude and ideas
About what comes our way in life
One heart at a time.

Shalom!