Mercy
1. Traffic cop’s mercy: A priest was forced, by a traffic cop,to pull over for speeding. As the cop was about to write the ticket, the priest said to him,
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The cop handed the priest the ticket, and said, "Go, and sin no more."
2. Photographer’s mercy: The story is told of a politician who, after receiving the proofs of a picture, was very angry with the photographer. He stormed back to the man's studio and screamed at him: "This picture does not do me justice!" The photographer replied, "Sir, with a face like yours, what you need is mercy, not justice)
Mercy Sunday Homily Easter 2nd Sunday
What is your experience of the resurrection? There is always new insight. New insight because the gospel speaks in a different way to each different age. And also at different ages we ask different questions and face different challenges.
In our case CARE FOR THE EARTH IS PRIMARY.
During the YEAR OF MERCY 2016 ON 3rd June Pope Francis recognised Mary Magdalen as a major figure in Catholicism.
This great Pope and also the Magdalen to me show us beautifully what today’s Gospel is all about. It’s about NEW CREATION. And so it’s important that the Bible and also John’s gospel both begin with the phrase, in the beginning. Think of Revelation and throughout the old testament - the God who is Always doing a “NEW THING”
Let’s look at chapter 20 and John’s gospel as a whole. Not once but twice, JOHN reminds you this was, on the first day of the week. It was, very early in the morning, when the dark is giving way to the LIGHT OF DAWN an echo of the first account of creation.
John is telling us that the NEW CREATION has begun. He repeats this PHRASE - “the First Day of the Week” later on in the evening. During this second visit Jesus will breathe on the disciples, empowering them with the Holy Spirit - they are “a new creation” and THEY’RE called to share in the Mission announcing that new creation. Another link between genesis, the creation of the universe and the resurrection is in the word breath or wind. The same word both in Hebrew and Greek is used for breath, wind or breeze.(The Genesis 3 text refers to the evening breeze in the garden of Eden - the same word)
John’s Gospel starts with the Prologue, ends with the Passion and resurrection. The MAIN part of the
Gospel in between these is THE BOOK OF SIGNS.
There are seven actions of Jesus. Seven SIGNS pointing you to who he is.. At the end of the BOOK, of the seven signs, at the time of the CROSS, Jesus says “It is accomplished” just as God finished the work of creation on the seventh day.
What Mary Magdalene and the women discover on Easter morning is a new kind of human presence, a new kind of bodily presence. New creation. And where does this happen ? In the garden - John wants his readers to
connect with the Garden of Eden in Chapter 3 of Genesis.
Very mysterious - don’t come to quick ideas about this - In some way creation is starting or being renewed, or moving forward more likely, through the death of Jesus?
At baptism each of us is brought into this
reality by water and the Holy Spirit, at our baptism.
But notice we are in a bad place to understand this.
Why? We are too individualistic. The early Church were radically equal - no more Jew or Greek, slave of
free, men or women.
The idea of priest we have today would simply not be recognised by the early church - it’s far too unequal to lay people. The only time they used the word priest was about the Christ figure (and he was a lay person too). The priest we now experience didn’t appear till around 200ad. (They try to read the later term back into the new testament but women’s theology has exposed this beautifully.)
No. It’s one united, radically equal community, deciding by consensus.
The whole community called themselves “the saints” Read your new testament. They are bound together by Christ into a profound communion, the communion of Saints. Neither Jew nor Greek, free or slave, male or female.
In the fifth century Pope Gregory mistakenly linked Magdalen, to the bad woman of the town in Luke 7 : 36. Ever since, she’s been suppressed in Catholic history. Now Pope Francis has given her a Feast Day in the roman calendar.
We can think of Magdalen as a transformed person, a woman “from whom seven demons had gone out” she is a “new creation” Pope Francis is too.
He made serious mistakes in Argentina As leader of Argentina’s Jesuits, he made all decisions himself, unlike the early Church. His mistakes were serious and he was sent away for two years to a remote spot. He entered the depth of prayer and came back a new person, a new creation. He would travel on buses as an Archbishop, pay his own hotel bills as Pope, Visit prisons, Write to suffering people in Gaza.
The saints, though, exist to inspire us, to challenge
us towards action, remind us we’re saints too !!
Christian is about love in action.