Readings (Year A):
Acts 10:34a, 37–43
Psalm 118:1–2, 16–17, 22–23
Colossians 3:1–4
John 20:1–9
Reflection: Trust in God’s abundant mercy
Happy Easter from Cheyenne, Wyoming. My name is Bishop Steven Biegler.
Today we rejoice because Jesus was raised from the dead. We also rejoice because we were raised to new life with him. In the letter to the Colossians, St. Paul challenges us to live this mystery. He wrote, “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above.” Through baptism, we were raised with Christ. Are you living this mystery?
At Easter Sunday Mass, as the assembly renews their baptismal promises, the priest says: “Dear brothers and sisters, through the Paschal Mystery, we have been buried with Christ in Baptism, so that we may walk with him in newness of life.”
What should people see in us as we walk with the risen Lord in newness of life?
It is not easy. We can feel overwhelmed by the evil and darkness in the world. Recently, rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply among young people. We can lose heart when a loved one is suffering from serious illness. Political upheaval and wars across the globe can cause us to feel hopeless.
Yet the resurrection of Christ proclaims the victory of God’s love over all things. Today we “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.”
I invite you to trust in God’s abundant mercy that raised Christ from the dead. This is how Jesus walked the earth. Jesus was utterly convinced of God’s abundant mercy. That is why he told us not to worry about our daily needs. That is why he could take five loaves and two fish and feed thousands. That is why he willingly died on the cross trusting that God’s overflowing life would raise him from the dead.
Jesus walked with a constant awareness of God’s abundant mercy. This is what it means to walk with him in newness of life.
Also, this walk is not an individual journey. It is a joint venture. We were raised up as the body of Christ. We walk in communion with the baptized. We journey together with all the members of his body. As we walk together—trusting in God’s abundant mercy—it transforms society.
Christ sends us to walk hand-in-hand with confidence in God’s abundant mercy. Trust in God’s abundant love alleviates anxiety across generations. Trust in God’s abundant gifts is the antidote to fear that we will not have enough resources for tomorrow, or enough to share with the poor. Trust in God’s abundant mercy gives us hope to forgive and reconcile.
At baptism, we were immersed in the mercy of Christ. To walk with him means that his abundant mercy should overflow through us as the body of Christ. We should be a reconciling force in the world.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is a splendid example of this. She was born in Italy, and she came to the United States to serve Italian immigrants. They were discriminated against, even by American priests. Masses for them were held in the basement of the church because they were seen as poor, uneducated, dirty, and stinky. She visited them in the slums. She established orphanages and hospitals for the poor.
Later she went to New Orleans after a mob forcibly removed eleven Italian men from jail and lynched them. Because they were immigrants, they were suspected of committing a murder, even though they were never convicted. A local priest contacted Mother Cabrini and asked her to come. Her sisters established a mission in the poorest Italian neighborhood in the city.
Mother Cabrini’s motto was, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”(Phil. 4:13). She said, “Where there is love, there is no labor too great, no task too difficult.” She was impelled by Christ’s love. Mother Cabrini walked with Christ in his suffering, death, and resurrection. She said, “We are called to be channels of God’s love and mercy. In a world filled with despair and suffering, we must be the bearers of hope. Through our actions and words, we can bring light and healing to those in darkness.”
Today “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” Trust in God’s abundant mercy that raised Christ from the dead. Walk with the awareness of God’s abundant mercy. Walk hand-in-hand with all people and be a channel of God’s mercy.
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