Father Matthew Wiering Podcast Unknown

Today we celebrate the 1st Communion of a number of our young people, and we have the perfect Gospel to prepare us for this gift. Jesus gives us the very familiar biblical images of grapes and vines, which tell us so much about how we must live in imitation of Jesus (by being willing to be crushed like grapes) and how we have the strength to do this (by remaining on the vine that is Jesus).

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we take a closer look at St. Peter, who gives a fiery speech to the religious authorities in the 1st Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. There is no better example of the transformation that can come from grace than St. Peter, who went from denying even knowing Jesus out of fear to fearlessly witnessing to him in front of those who could imprison or even kill him. At the Last Supper, Jesus says to Peter, "I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brethren." Jesus's prayer remains efficacious today, as we look to the Successor of St. Peter, as the guardian and guarantee of the faith of Jesus.

In this account of the Resurrection from Luke, we begin in a similar way to last week's Gospel from John: The disciples are gathered together in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Out of fear they have locked themselves in to keep any enemies out. We can only imagine the fear that they feel, that what happened to Jesus will also happen to them. But we can also only imagine the guilt they must have felt: Each had abandoned Jesus in his time of need. Yet it was precisely into that bad spiritual space that Jesus entered and speaks not words of condemnation but rather, "Peace be with you". And he shows them his hands and his side. This encounter with the living Lord changes their fear and their guilt into joy. May our encounter with the Risen Lord at every Mass do the same!

The Gospel tells us that on the evening of Easter, Jesus appears in the locked Upper Room to his disciples, who were obviously in a state of misery -- grieving and confused, fearful that what happened to Jesus would happen to them, and guilt-ridden because of how they abandoned Jesus. Yet Jesus's first words to them were not, "You have really disappointed me," or, "Did you learn nothing from me over the past three years," but rather, "Peace be with you." And the effect that these words and the sight of his wounds had on them was immediate: "The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord." May the whole Church, and each of us, individually, know the gift of His Forgiveness this Divine Mercy Sunday -- his Easter gift to the Church!

Through the Passion and Death of Jesus, all of the dysfunction and disorder of the world is hurled on Jesus. Hatred, anger, oppression, greed, abuse, betrayal, abandonment ... the worst that the world has to offer is heaped upon Jesus. And Jesus accepts the violence and hate. He does not defend himself but allows himself to succumb to these worst forces of evil, dying, being buried, and descending into hell. But this is not the end of the story! The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the sign that God is victorious over sin and death. There's no filth that the world can throw at Jesus that itself is not forgiven and redeemed in the ocean of God's mercy. And ourselves, too: May we allow Jesus to touch the dysfunction and disorder in our hearts, so that this contact with the most pure one can render us clean with the new life of the Resurrection!