Bishop Bradley sends video greetings from Rome with diocesan seminarians Maximillian Nightingale (left) and Jeff Hanley (right)
Sunday, April 12 - 2nd Sunday of Easter/ Sunday of Divine Mercy
Greetings to my Family of Faith in the Diocese of
Kalamazoo from Rome, the Eternal City,
Peace be with
you! The weather here is pleasant and
very spring-like, blue skies, nice breeze and temps in the 70's. On this Second Sunday of Easter, the
completion of the Easter Octave and the universal celebration of Divine Mercy
Sunday, I greet you with those same words of Jesus which we heard twice in
today's Gospel when He appeared to His frightened Apostles locked behind closed
doors in the Upper Room. "Peace be
with you!" He spoke those words,
affirming that He had been raised from the dead, and then showing them the
proof: the wounds in His hands, feet and
side from the nail spikes and spear used to crucify and kill Him just 3 days
before but now healed, though still and eternally present, in His glorified and
resurrected Body.
What
more could they want or need than His words and the visible proof of His
glorious wounds?! However it took the
Apostles the better part of that first week, discussing these amazing things
among themselves and trying to explain to Thomas, one of the 12 who was absent
on that first Sunday evening, who was unable to believe, but rather
questioned/doubted until he was able to see with his own eyes. For that reason, Jesus appeared again on what
would be today, the Sunday after Easter, to prove to Thomas that He was risen
and to bring him to belief.
Jesus'
words----Jesus' glorious wounds----and Jesus' commission to "Receive the
Holy Spirit" given thru words and through His breathing upon them is what
it took to establish the Church with a mission:
to go forth to all the world, seeking to convert hearts from sin, to
reconcile them with the Church, and to call people to live in the Love of the
Risen Christ with fellow believers and all humanity.
What a
great privilege it is for me to be in Rome for this beautiful conclusion of the
Easter Octave and for Divine Mercy Sunday when, on this same day, our Holy
Father, Pope Francis, announced the Year of Mercy to begin on December 8th of
this year, and to conclude on the Feast of Christ the King in 2016. I also had
the great privilege of being among the 10's of thousands gathered in St.
Peter's Square for the Noon Angelus this afternoon when Pope Francis spoke
about the blessings of Divine Mercy and this Year of Mercy to which he has
called the entire Church. (Note: please
see the video message above I made with our two seminarians, Max Nightingale (St.
Joseph Parish, St. Joseph, and Jeff Hanley, Sts. John and Bernard Parish,
Benton Harbor) studying here in Rome.)
This is the first full day of my Roman
Pilgrimage. Fr. Ted Martin and I arrived
at 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon (Saturday, April 11), along with six members of my own Bradley Family
who are accompanying me on this trip to Rome for a Pilgrimage in thanksgiving
for my 10th anniversary as a Bishop of the Church. The little more than 24 hours that we have
spent here in Rome have been full of many blessings.
With Fr.
Ted acting as our unofficial tourguide, we have already visited a number of
beautiful Rome Churches, including St. Mary Major Basilica where we celebrated
Mass this morning. I look forward to
sharing more reflections from my remaining days here in Rome until our return
to Kalamazoo on Saturday. In the
meantime, in the words of our Risen Lord:
"Peace be with you!"
Sent from my iPad
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