Divine Mercy Sunday (2nd Sunday of Easter) - John 20: 19-31

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John 20: 19-31 - 'Eight days later, Jesus came again and stood among them.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:

- 645 (in 'The Condition of Christ's risen humanity') - By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm (abbreviated).

- 1120 (in 'The Sacraments of the Church') - The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. the saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person (abbreviated).

- 1441 (in 'Only God forgives sin') - Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.

- 858 (in 'The Apostles' Mission) - Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; .... and he appointed twelve, whom also he named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach." From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me."

- 976 (in 'I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins') - The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

- 1485 (in 'The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation')

- 788 (in 'The Church is communion with Jesus')

- 1287 (in 'Confirmation in the economy of salvation') - This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost (abbreviated).

- 1461 (in 'The Minister of this Sacrament')

- 448 (in 'Lord')

- 514 (in 'Christ's Whole Life is a Mystery')

- 644 (in 'The Appearances of the Risen One')

- 1087 (in 'from the time of the church of the apostles')

- 730 (in 'Christ Jesus')

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