Readings: Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31 (45)

Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives.

If you had to describe the Church to a non-believer, how would you do it? That’s not an easy question to answer. Sometimes, what is most familiar to us is hardest to define. Today, however, the Sunday dedicated to honoring God’s mercy, we are presented with a beautiful portrait that brings out the Church’s most essential characteristic: the Church is the extension throughout all time and space of Christ’s very own presence.

The Book of Acts shows how the infant Church did exactly what Christ did; it paints a portrait of the Church that is an exact replica of the Gospels’ portrait of Christ. All the Christians would gather under the marble columns of Solomon’s portico, inside the Temple’s courtyard in Jerusalem. That same portico, the Gospels tell us, was Jesus’ favorite preaching spot. Huge crowds brought the sick and possessed to the Apostles, who cured them by miracles – exactly what had happened to Christ during his public ministry. The Book of Acts goes on to describe how great numbers were added to the circle of believers – here we see the beginning of the expansion of the Church, the extension of this presence and action of Christ that will eventually reach the entire world.

The same point is made more symbolically by the Second Reading. There St John tells us that he saw seven golden lamp stands, and Christ, the Son of Man, was walking among them. In the Bible, the number seven means fullness, completeness. The lamp stands represent the numerous Christian communities throughout the world that together make up Christ’s one Church. The Church shines brightly in the world, like a lamp, with the light of Christ’s truth and precious gold of his mercy.  And where does Christ fit into this picture? He is “in the midst of the lamp stands“. Christ dwells in his Church. Wherever the Church reaches, it brings the presence of Christ.

The Gospel passage removes any doubts that may be lingering after the first two Readings: Jesus tells his Apostles: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” In other words, you – the pillars of my Church – are to be my presence in the world. This is the Church: the extension of Christ’s presence throughout the earth.

Christ was God’s redemptive, boundless mercy made visible; the Church has now taken up that baton, and will be God’s mercy continually made visible unto the ends of the earth till the end of time.