Homily for 2d Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Easter

April 12, 2026
1 Pet 1: 3-9
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

Jesus Appears in the Upper Room (James Tissot)

St. Peter assures us, “God … in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope thru the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1: 3).

That Jesus of Nazareth truly rose from the dead is evidenced by his appearing to his apostles in spite of their hiding away in a locked room, and their touching him and probing his mortal wounds.  On the apostles’ testimony, backed up eventually by their martyrdom for the sake of Christ, we’re as sure of the resurrection as we are that Washington crossed the Delaware with his army on Christmas Day 1776.

Jesus alive gives us “living hope”—hope that the power of God will touch us, too, who have been reborn in him by water and the Holy Spirit.  Thus does God pour out on us his great mercy—which we particularly mark today, Divine Mercy Sunday.

In fact, Jesus is our “living hope,” as we pray before Communion at every Mass:  “By the help of your mercy, may we be always free from sin …, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”  Mercy, hope, and our Lord Jesus—all together!

Our hope rests on that wonderful mercy.  His resurrection wouldn’t mean much to us without that—the mercy he commissioned the apostles and the whole Church to pass on from him by the power of the Holy Spirit:  the power to forgive sins, the power to reconcile us with God in spite of our mortality, our frailties, our failures, our sins great and small.

God loves us, God forgives, God redeems us in Jesus, risen, alive, bringing us to life.  That’s the Gospel, the Good News.  That’s the mission of the Church—to hear and accept the Gospel by receiving the sacraments—being washed clean in the holy font and reborn in the Spirit (Collect), by communing with his Body and Blood, by having our sins erased in confession; and by practicing Christ’s own love for God and neighbor.  And, further, to share the Gospel we’ve accepted, letting everyone see by our words and deed that we belong to Jesus Christ, our merciful Redeemer.