In Christ and Divine Mercy, image of Divine Mercy apparition to Sr. Faustina Kowalska, Stained Glass Inc. (CC license)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Divine Mercy Sunday
1 John 5:1-6
April 11, 2021

From now until the Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 16) our first readings will be from the Acts of the Apostles, our second readings from the first letter of St. John and (with one exception) our gospels from St. John. We will take this opportunity to look at the 1^st Letter of John with special care. It will bring the entire message of the community which formed around the Beloved Disciple into greater clarity. We must begin by noting that this is the work of a community over time. The Gospel and Letters of John were composed as the community developed and they mark the signs of this growth. Scholars have detected four stages:

(1) The “Beloved Disciple” (usually referred to as John) – This Gospel many times remarks on the close relationship between Jesus and the beloved disciple and that he may have lived longer than the other disciples. He was an eyewitness to the events that the Gospel relates. This Gospel shows greater familiarity with Jewish customs and rituals and the geography of the Holy Land than the others. That the Gospel of John and other writings can be traced to an eyewitness is more than plausible as is its connection to a charismatic figure as we can assume the beloved disciple was.