On the Second Sunday of Easter
The Second Sunday of Easter which ends the Octave of Easter, being the eighth day of Easter, has many names. It is called Low Sunday in contrast with the High Solemnity of Easter. It is also called Quasimodo Sunday from the Introit “Quasi modo, geniti infantes..” (Like newborn infants…). In the old liturgy, it was called “Dominica in albis” because it was the day of removal of the white garments worn for eight days by those baptized at the Easter Vigil. In the Philippines, it is still referred to as the Domingo in albis and is devoted to the sick and elderly who are gathered in a certain house to receive the Sacrament of Holy Anointing.
On April 30, 2000 which was a Sunday after Easter, the day of the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska as the first saint of the new millenium, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted the Divine Mercy Sunday to be celebrated every Second Sunday of Easter.
We recall that, from the revelations to Sr. Faustina, Jesus asked her to have an image painted patterned after the vision she saw, to be blessed on the First Sunday after Easter that was to become the Feast of Mercy. On April 28, 1935, the very first Mass in honor of the Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter was celebrated before the newly painted image and with Sr. Faustina in attendance. The Mass was presided over by Fr. Michael Sopoćko, her confessor, who was beatified in 2008.
The Gospel every Second Sunday of Easter is on the appearances of Jesus to the Apostles in the evening of the day of his Resurrection and eight days after. And we hear the words of Jesus “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”, as it were instituting the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. He knew we are prone to sin and thus gave a “second plank of salvation” for every loss of grace.
Further, we are reminded on the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a Sacrament of Mercy. Having been instituted to be celebrated on a Sunday when attending mass is the first obligation, Divine Mercy Sunday brings us to remember the Redemption brought about by the Passion and Death of Jesus in obedience to His Father who, out of great love and mercy sent Him to the world.
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