2nd Sunday of Easter: MERCY, April 3,2016

Written by Fr. Fitz Thursday, 31 March 2016 11:07

THE GLORIOUS WOUNDS OF CHRIST.

AT THE EASTER VIGIL ON HOLY SATURDAY THE CELEBRANT STANDING IN FRONT OF THE NEWLY LIT FIRE, PLACED 5 NAILS IN THE GREAT EASTER CANDLE.

NOT ORDINARY NAILS. Rather these were beautified nails, each one of them encased with fragrant incense.

All this to show that after the resurrection, the wounds of Christ were gloriied, beautified, healing wounds.

And these are the wounds that Jesus invited Thomas to explore in today's Gospel.

"By these wounds, we are healed."

 This is Mercy Sunday.

We all need mercy because we have all been wounded by sin.

At the time of the Reformation, there was controversy about this woundedness. Saint Augustine held a very pessimistic view abot human nature and sometimes his views prevailed. He  stressed the corruption of human nature because of Original Sin.

At the Council of Trent which followed Martin Luther's break, and which should have been called before his reform, and perhaps might have made the Reformation unneeded, the Council stressed that humans were not essentially corrupt and this corruption covered over by Christ's merits, but rather that human nature was WOUNDED BY SIN.

Notice in the words of the beautiful song Amazing Grace, the lyrics which refer to "a wretch like me." This echoes Augustine's pessimism about human nature. But the good news of Easter is that we are not wretches, but the beloved children of God, healed of our woundedness by the Grace of the Risen Lord.

And so the Easter Candle shows the wounds of Christ as beautiful and glorified.

The spiraling of the current political campaign into the gutter certainly reveals to all of us

that we are all wounded.

And because we are wounded by sin, we all need the overflowing mercy of God which pours forth from the wounded side of Jesus.

And so we pray:

"Soul of Chrst be my santidication,

Body of Christ be my salvation

Blood of Christ fill all my veins,

Water from Christ's side wash out my stains,

Passion of Christ my comfort be

Good Jesus listen to me

In Thy wounds I deighn would hide,

never to be parted from thy side...

Anima Christi