Homily, 4-10-23; Monday in the Octave of Easter:
At the feast of Pentecost, Peter addresses the Jews with some pretty harsh words: “Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.”
He tells the Jews that they killed Jesus; that they were responsible for His crucifixion. But he doesn’t condemn them. He doesn’t tell them they are destined for Hell because of their actions, or inactions. Later in the chapter from Acts that we heard today, we see the Jews realizing and admitting what they had done. They were cut to the heart and ask Peter: “What are we to do?” And Peter responds: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
We have just concluded our season of Lent, a time of conversion to grow closer to God, but also a time of self-examination to better understand our own sinfulness. We may not have killed Jesus, as Peter accused his fellow Jews, but our past sins, and those we will commit in the future, contributed to the suffering He endured during His passion. And so it important for us also to repent and ask for forgiveness.
We ask God to forgive our sins, but we also ask for His mercy, that the punishment due to us be softened, or maybe even taken away. And throughout our Church history this week after Easter has been set aside as a special time to ask for God’s mercy. St. Augustine referred to the days of Easter week as the “days of mercy and pardon” and referred to the Second Sunday of Easter, what we now call Divine Mercy Sunday, as the “compendium of the days of mercy.”
St. Peter went on to tell the crowd that if they ask for forgiveness that they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He exhorted them saying: “For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call…Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” Words for us to consider in our corrupt generation as well.