“They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers…Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes.” (Acts 2,42.44) One of the great blessings of the Risen Christ and a sign of his Divine Mercy is the formation of the early Christian community. A sign of our new life in Christ is our belonging and being a part of the Body of Christ that is the Church. The Church community is the Body of Christ, the presence of the Risen Christ in the Christian community gathered in prayer and fellowship.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” Our new life in Christ is a communal life that is a sign of a “living hope” that we all share. It is a great blessing of mercy and of peace that we belong to a community of love and peace. In the world we are witnesses of such great division and enmity among peoples. The hatred and bitterness among people causes violence and is a threat to the survival of the human race. It is a source of fear and uncertainty about the future. The Risen Christ brings mercy and peace into the world. His Spirit is a gift of healing and forgiveness that creates community. “‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’” (Jn 20, 21-23) The Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of mercy, forgiveness and unity.

The disciples were always people of “little faith” and their faith in Jesus was severely tested by the Passion of Jesus. All of the disciples fled and went their separate ways when Jesus was handed over to be crucified. Jesus had warned them about this at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, where he appears to them after his resurrection, “Then Jesus said to them, “this night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’; but after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.” (Mt 26,31f) We all go through difficult times in which we have a “shaken faith” and in those times we may also have scattered from the community of believers. It is in those times that the “raised up” Jesus gathers us back to his Church and in mercy and love he brings us home. Jesus “goes before us to Galilee”, like the Shekinah (cloud of God’s glory) went before the people of Israel to lead them into a new life of freedom as his people. Galilee is where we live, and Jesus is ready and able to meet us where we live and walk with us in our trials.

“I give you a new commandment: love on another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13,34f) Mercy and forgiveness allows us to live in the peace and love of the Body of Christ. It is the love that we have for one another in the Christian community that becomes a “living hope” of a future of peace. Jesus goes before me in my own Galilee and blesses me with friendships and community that I would never have without my following him. I think of the tremendous blessing of the countless friends that I have made in the Christian community. My parish community, the fellowship of fellow priests, even the association with true saints such as Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, has enriched my life and is a true sign of God’s mercy and love. All of the people that I love the most I have met through my faith life in Christ. Truly since the time of the earliest Christian community, the Risen Christ has been present in the believing community. Jesus is the one who lives and who inspires a “living faith” and a “living hope” in a merciful Father who is God of the living, not the dead, and who leads us into the fullness of life in his Spirit.