Part of what the Acts of the Apostles offers us in a most profound way is a fairly chronological exposition on the origins of the Church, how the young band of disciples grew into a formidable group of believers, how they encountered and handled setbacks, and how their connection, and their witness to, the resurrected Christ and the endowment of the Holy Spirit sprinted them into a formidable force for positive change in their time.

We know that the most important proof for the Resurrection of Jesus is neither the empty tomb on Easter Sunday nor the testimony of Mary, Peter and John the beloved who “saw and believed.” The most reliable proof for the Resurrection lies in examining the dramatic change in the attitude of the Apostles and disciples after the Resurrection in comparison to their attitude before the Resurrection. It is obvious that the Apostles exhibited attitudinal transformation after they saw Christ.

Each Liturgical Year, between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday, the First Readings at most Masses are taken from St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. This is intentionally arranged by the Church to afford us the opportunity to reflect on how the Apostles reacted and responded to the Resurrection of Jesus, and how their reaction to the unique experience of Christ’s Resurrection influenced the happenings that shaped the evolution of the early Church. The Readings at the liturgy this weekend explore the conviction of the Apostles that Christ’s Passion and Resurrection had been foreshadowed all along through Israel’s Scripture and history. At the Resurrection of Jesus, every piece of the history of salvation, as presented in the Scriptures, suddenly fell into place and began to make sense to the Apostles who now understood what was hitherto a mystery to them. They could now clearly see that God had planned all that happened in accordance with His Holy will, and that Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Israelite Scripture.

On April 30, 2000, the First Sunday following Easter and the Sunday that completed the Octave of Easter, Pope John Paul II both canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska (a Polish nun who saw visions of Christ in which Our Lord asked her to be an Apostle of Divine Mercy) and declared in his Homily of that day his own desire that the “Second Sunday of Easter…. From now on throughout the world will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’” Following these holy wishes of the Holy Father, on May 5, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree officially establishing the Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.”