Fr. Bob’s Homily – Second Sunday of Easter

Week after week, most of us come to church, and the years pass by. The agenda of our gatherings often remains the same. It takes different shapes and forms, but there is one central focus: our faith in Christ.

Today, I’d like to shift the focus. Instead of talking about our faith in Jesus, let’s reflect on His faith in us. Our Gospel reading is a powerful example of this. The Disciples are locked behind closed doors. They are filled with fear and despair. All their hopes and dreams had been shattered by Jesus’ death.

Everything they believed in seemed to crumble, and they felt they had failed their friend. They dared to hope that Jesus had come to deliver Israel, but instead, He had gotten Himself killed. It left them with broken hearts and shaken faith.

It’s a dismal situation for anyone. But the happy part of this story is that God still had faith in them. They had all failed, except John, who stayed through the crucifixion. Judas had betrayed Him. The others had forsaken Him. When Jesus appears to them after the resurrection, Thomas does not even believe it’s truly Him.

It was a clean sweep. In a sense, the Apostles were a group of failures. Yet, Christ did not lose His faith them. After His resurrection, one of the first things He did was call them back into service.

The Apostles had failed before – and they would fail again. That is part of the human condition. But this did not prevent Christ from trusting them. His faith in them proved to be well-placed, and their failure was not final.

What does this mean for us today? It means failure does not have to be the end. I see it happen each day, at St. Christopher’s Inn, here at Graymoor. Men who, by the age of 13, have become addicted to drugs and alcohol, losing their families and jobs. But with time, hard work, and an incredible amount of spirituality, they rebuild their lives.

In our own lives, we can sometimes feel like the Apostles did on that first Easter evening – locked behind fear, imprisoned by our doubts and mistakes. Fear can be just as confining as any prison cell. We may feel like we’ve failed and are afraid to try again.

But Christ had faith in them – faith that was not just charitable good will. It was an honest and confident faith that proved to be right.

The first words Jesus spoke to them when He arrived were not, “Where were you? What happened to you? Why did you let Me down?” His first words were, “Peace be with you.” No accusations. No blaming. Only encouragement. Only forgiveness. Only peace. The Apostles were strengthened and motivated by Christ. Through that encouragement, they transformed the world in His name.

So often, we forget that God is far bigger than we are. No failure, no sin of ours can stop God from loving us. And that is what this Sunday is all about – Divine Mercy.

Always remember you are in good company. Every one of the Apostles failed, but they did not allow their failure to be final. May God grant us the wisdom to do the same.