“They devoted themselves…Everyday they devoted themselves…”  In a reading from the Acts of the Apostles we see the devotion of the early Christian community.  They have been transformed by the Spirit of Christ, by their experience of the Paschal Mystery, the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and by their experience of the glorious wounds of Christ transformed and glorified in the risen body of Jesus into portals of Divine Mercy through which we are called to enter into the life of faith.  The Easter experience radically changes the lives of the apostles and they begin to live their lives in a new way.  They too have died with Christ and now have received a new life in him who is the risen one. 

     This transformation and change brought about through the gift of new life in the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit calls them to commit their lives to a new way of living.  Everyday they devoted themselves to this new life.  The word “devotion” comes from the Latin “devotus”, de + vovere meaning to vow.  They are now living a life vowed to faith in the Risen Christ and to works of mercy and love that will extend the gifts of the Spirit of the Risen Christ to the entire world.  This devotion is an everyday commitment to new life and radical love that will heal the wounds of sin and death and bring new hope to humanity.

     In the gospel of John, the Risen Jesus shows the disciples his hands and side, the wounds that are now made glorious through his resurrection.  They are signs of an invincible love that can heal the wounds of hatred, violence, death and destruction that still exist in our world today.  They are the path to a true and lasting peace which comes through reconciliation and forgiveness.  These wounds heal but they do not vanish because they also teach.  We enter upon this path with devotion – commitment and a vow to work through prayer and works of mercy to extend the healing grace of the new life of the resurrection to the entire world.

     Pope Benedict spoke about this several years ago in his Urbi et Orbi address to the world on Easter Sunday:  “Fixing the gaze of our spirit on the glorious wounds of his transfigured body, we can understand the meaning and value of suffering, we can tend the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day.  In his glorious wounds we recognize the indestructible signs of the infinite mercy of God… How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence!  These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters.  They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled.”  Peter tells us in his letter to the Church:  “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.  By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Pt 2,24f)

     Today we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy on this Sunday in the Octave of Easter.  It reminds us that we must be committed to Divine Mercy and everyday devote ourselves to living out the divine mercy of our Lord through acts of charity and a true commitment to justice.  Many people feel that “devotions” are a thing of the past in our Church but our readings today remind us that we must constantly tend to devotion so that we might appropriate the graces of our Risen Lord and extend them to the world in working for a true healing of the world’s festering wounds, the wounds against human dignity.  Only in the Risen Christ will the world ever hope to know a true and lasting peace.  By everyday practicing our devotion to the Risen Christ, the Divine Mercy, we will be transformed by his grace to live the new life of the Spirit of Mercy and Divine Love.