Sunday 28th April 2019
SECOND SUNDAY of EASTER
DIVINE MERCY
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Morning Masses 8.30 & 10.15am Evening 6pm
DIVINE MERCY DEVOTIONS & CONFESSIONS
2.30pm at OUR LADY OF LOURDES & ST JOSEPH Leigh on Sea SS9 1MG
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Breath of New Life: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Second Sunday of Easter.
Readings:Acts 5:12–16
Psalm 118:2–4, 13–15, 22–24
Revelation 1:9–13, 17–19
John 20:19–31
The prophet Daniel in a vision saw “One like the Son of Man” receive everlasting kingship (see Daniel 7:9–14).
John is taken to heaven in today’s Second Reading where he sees
Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, who appears as “One like a Son of
Man.”
Jesus is clad in the robe of a High Priest (see Exodus 28:4; Wisdom 18:24) and wearing the gold sash of a king (see 1 Maccabees 10:89). He has been exalted by the right hand of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm.
His risen body, which the Apostles touch in today’s Gospel, has been made a lifegiving Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).
As the Father anointed Him with the Spirit and power (see Acts 10:38), Jesus pours out that Spirit on the Apostles, sending them into the world “as the Father has sent Me.”
Jesus “breathes” the Spirit of His divine life into the Apostles—as God blew the “breath of life” into Adam (see Genesis 2:7), as Elijah’s prayer returned “the life breath” to the dead child (see 1 Kings 17:21–23), and as the Spirit breathed new life into the slain in the valley of bones (see Ezekiel 37:9–10).
His creative breath unites the Apostles—His Church—to His body, and
empowers them to breathe His life into a dying world, to make it a new
creation.
In today’s Gospel and First Reading, we see the Apostles fulfilling
this mission with powers only God possesses—the power to forgive sins
and to work “signs an wonders,” a biblical expression only used to
describe the mighty works of God (see Exodus 7:3; 11:10; Acts 7:36).
Thomas and the others saw “many other signs” after Jesus was raised
from the dead. They saw and they believed. They have been given His
life, which continues in the Church’s Word and
sacraments, so that we who have not seen might inherit His blessings and “have life in His name.”
sacraments, so that we who have not seen might inherit His blessings and “have life in His name.”
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