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Today is the “Second Sunday of Easter,” reminding us that the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection is not to be thought of simply as a day but rather as an on-going reality. As I write that I am reminded of the poem by Symeon the New Theologian, a man who lived at the turn of the first millennium (949-1022). He writes: “We awaken in Christ’s body as Christ awakens our bodies, and my poor hand is Christ; He enters my foot and is infinitely me…” – rather startling concepts in a work of 1,000 years ago, but one that gives us pause to consider the importance of what we celebrate as “the mystical body of Christ.”

Today is also designated in the Roman Catholic Church as “Divine Mercy Sunday,” promulgated by Pope St. John Paul II in the year 2000. Although our concept of the mercy of God has historically focused on our human failings and sinfulness, the placement of this feast on the Sunday following the Resurrection calls us to consideration of the “fierce, bonding love” of God for us. (see: Helen Luke, Old Age)

Today, then, let us be grateful for the total, unconditional love of God that is poured out on us each day and the call of that love to be manifested in us as cells in the body of Christ.