DISCIPLES OF DIVINE MERCY

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
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
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.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained. . . .”  Jn 20:19-31

The Green text below is from The Grant of Divine Forgiveness by Bishop Robert Barron, Commentary on John 21: 19-23 by Bishop Robert Barron, The Gospels, The Word on Fire Bible, page 578.

“There is no greater manifestation of the Divine Mercy than the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ disciples were waiting in the upper room, the followers who had denied, betrayed and abandoned their master, when Jesus came and stood in their midst. When they saw him, their fear must have intensified. Undoubtedly, he was back for revenge.”

Can you see how, even today, two thousand years since this behind locked doors meeting, we, confessing to be friends and disciples of the Risen Christ, are much like those disciples were at this moment: knowing we could have and should have done more, been more faithful to Jesus. And, yes, our first response to hearing that someone did something wrong, or failed to do what they could and should have, is too often a desire for punishment and revenge. Think of your (and my) reaction when you hear news of another mass shooting. Is our disciple response, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do”?

“Instead, he spoke a simple word, ‘Shalom.’ (Peace be with you.) He showed them his hands and his side, lest they forget what the world (and they) did to him. But he does not follow up with blame or retribution – only a word of mercy.”

“And then the extraordinary Commission: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ Jesus’ mercy is communicated to his disciples, who in turn are sent to communicate it to the world.”

Jesus could have come back to that room and told the disciples that they wasted their chance to continue his mission. He also could have addressed their failings and given them an organizational plan for the future. He even could have appeared to them individually and given them personal instructions and missions. But instead, he spoke to them as a community that wanted to be faithful to him. And his message to them is just to let peace be with them, to let his Spirit be breathed into them and then go out from them to all the world, that, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins, they are retained.”

“This is the foundation for the sacrament of Penance, or Confession, which has existed in the Church from that moment to the present day as the privileged vehicle of the divine mercy.”  Commentary on John 20:19-23 by Bishop Robert Barron, The Gospels, The Word on Fire Bible, page 578.

The next time that we see or hear about someone, some meant-to-be disciple of Jesus, doing something wrong, what will be welling up from deep inside of us: a desire for revenge or a breathing of the Spirit of Peace upon them? And will that Spirit of Peace be communicated by us into the conversations we have with those around us?

May our Easter Season, which continues through to Pentecost, be a time of awareness of the Spirit being breathed into us by the Risen Christ.

Sister Loretta