21 April 2022
Thursday in the Octave of Easter
“For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.” (Acts 3:26)
In the readings from the Acts of the Apostles this Easter season, we hear Peter and Paul speak directly to the crowds about the connection between human sin and the sufferings of Jesus. There is a responsibility that all humanity bears for the crucifixion. Yet, in a manner radically different from all other human deaths, this death which destroys death does not hold humanity guilty, but seeks for humanity to be forgiven. As Benedict XVI wrote, “…the Christian will remember that Jesus’ blood speaks a different language from the blood of Abel: it does not cry out for vengeance and punishment; it brings reconciliation. It is not poured out against anyone; it is poured out for many, for all.” Jesus’ mission after the Resurrection is to confirm and spread the reconciliation which He had prepared the world for in His ministry and which He brought about through the Cross. This Lord raised up is sent to bless.
Perhaps the disciples forgot this as they forgot so much else, and hence they are terrified when the Risen Lord appears to them once again in today’s Gospel. Yet, Jesus continues to remind them of how Scripture had spoken of Him, and how the preaching of His Passion and Resurrection is to be accompanied by the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins. As Christ came into the world and rises from the dead to bless, so too He entrusts these disciples (forgetful though they may be) with this mission of reconciliation. As we continue to enter deeper into contemplation of the Lord’s Resurrection, let us ask God that His words may be true of us as well: “You are witnesses of these things.” (Lk 24:48)