Archbishop of Sydney

Second Sunday of Easter

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Acts 2:42-47; 1Pet 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
30/3/2008

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, Mercy Sunday or the eighth day of Easter time and naturally the readings describe that period, high with excitement and enthusiasm, soon after the resurrection of Our Lord, when He had returned victoriously and unexpectedly to demonstrate his victory over death and sin.

They were rejoicing as St. Peter said in “a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away”.  They were experiencing difficulties but many probably believed these would be short lived and that Jesus would soon make another and final return visit to complete the story of salvation.  They were looking forward in faith, full of expectation, awaiting the salvation of their souls.

By the time of Peter’s epistle he was preaching fearlessly but earlier, before the ascension but after the resurrection, the disciples were still hiding for fear of the Jews.  Thomas was still an unbeliever, despite the testimony of the women and some other apostles, although for him seeing was believing, not so much in what he saw physically, but that the Risen Jesus was the Messiah and more.  Hence those beautiful words “My Lord and my God”.

We are all aware that the initial harmony of the early community as they worshipped and prayed together, shared their goods through common ownership and supported the successful preaching activities of the apostles did not last for too long.  Original sin asserted itself, especially over money and the inevitable tensions and rivalries developed.

Even, or perhaps especially within the community, they had to practise forgiveness one with the other, which was the other side of the wonderful and liberating doctrine of God’s forgiveness for our own sins.  As we are forgiven by God if we repent and ask forgiveness so we have the duty, sometimes a hard task of forgiving others.  Mercy Sunday means that we too must be merciful to others.

So as the initial excitement cooled, the Christian community began its long slow journey developing structures and practices to preserve the riches of Christ’s teaching while trying to mould our unruly human nature and prevent it wrecking our communities entirely.

More than thirty years ago an English Protestant pastor who had become a Catholic said that one reason for his conversion was that the Catholic Church had good systems for regulating and organizing all the different cockerels who wanted to stand on top of the dung heap.

Let me try to explain something of what being a Catholic means in a world where we personally have not seen the Easter miracles, and have not been fused into Christ’s body of followers by personally following him on the way to Calvary.  That occurred nearly two thousand years ago.  Most of us also are past our initial and often immature religious enthusiasm, which has developed into something stronger but quieter; faith and hope.

Like you all I am first of all a follower of Christ, but very explicitly a Catholic follower of Christ, rather than an Evangelical or Protestant or Orthodox.

Catholic comes from the Greek word for universal, which means that following Christ is open to people of every national, class and tribe.  It also means that within the Catholic Church community and therefore linked to God’s love, we have people of nearly every level of understanding and many levels of moral goodness.  As I have often explained, sinfulness is one regular characteristic of Catholic communities.  So are imperfect families.  Not all Catholics are saints.

All of us act from mixed motives and all of us are influenced by society, by the world around us, often in ways we do not recognize.  Therefore from the beginning, because following Christ is a communitarian exercise, based on personal decisions certainly, Catholic leaders have worked hard to develop a Catholic culture, a way of worshipping, interacting and relating to the society around them.  This prevents us from being submerged by hostile forces and helps us pass on our treasures to the youngsters in our midst and to outsiders who are looking for meaning and healing.

One reason for our present difficulties is that our Catholic culture, our way of looking at things and living our life is being eroded, and frequently misguided Christians aid and abet these erosions.

Let me give two brief examples of how our Catholic culture began to develop to protect Christian faith.

Originally in the Roman Empire there were no public Church buildings as the sacraments were celebrated in private houses.  It was metaphorically an underground Church.  Initially too there were no specifically Christian symbols, as we took over pagan symbols such as the good shepherd, the fish and dove, an anchor or ship and gave them Christian meanings. Such understandings were invisible to pagan outsiders.

Only later, and especially with religious freedom under Emperor Constantine, did specifically Christian symbols develop such as the cross and crucifix.  Now we have magnificent cathedrals, beautiful churches, a splendid patrimony of church music, art and literature, which help sustain our faith.

From the earlier times Christians celebrated Easter once a year and a special Eucharist on every Sunday rather than the Jewish Sabbath.  Pentecost and then Christmas or the Epiphany emerged as feasts to be celebrated at different times during the year.

In 321 the Emperor Constantine declared Sunday a public holiday, with immense long term consequences. We should not be aiding and abetting those who want to make Sunday just another day.

A sixth century monk Dionysius Exiguus from Scythia started to date history from the year of the Incarnation; which we now know as A.D. “anno Domini” and B.C. (before Christ).  Why on earth Catholic agencies should be enthusiastically supporting the use of C.E. (the Common Era), and B.C.E., (before the Common Era), is beyond me!

Christian faith has to be preserved and defended in many ways, because we want to be able to offer Christ for acceptance to all sorts of religiously ordinary people like many of us.  Faith is personal and precious and needs protection and wise handling.  We need to be working to shape the currents in society so that one does not need to be a hero to publicly declare belief or live a good life.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.