The text below is the transcription of the video commentary by Fr Fernando Armellini

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” A good feast day to all, sisters and brothers. With the feast of Pentecost, we conclude the days of Easter. They have lasted 50 days, the time in which we received the light of the Risen One, donated to our life. The meaning of our existence in this world. The text of today’s Gospel tells what happened on the day of Easter, when the disciples rejoiced to see the Risen One. It is important to clarify the meaning of this “seeing”—the Greek term used by the evangelist. In our languages, we only have a verb to “see”. In Greek, we have several verbs: ‘Blepo’ which means to observe what is verifiable, what the physical eyes observe. But the term used to see the Risen One is ‘orao’. The look of the one who sees beyond the material, which is verifiable. Once, Jesus said: “Happy are those who have a pure heart because they will see God” (Mt 5:8). It is the gaze that makes the invisible visible to the physical eyes, to what is verifiable. The disciples rejoiced because with this vision they are able to see where this life surrendered by the Master went. It is interesting that it is not said that Jesus “appeared” but that “has been seen”.   The invitation is also for us to verify our heart because if it is ‘pure’ we, too, will be able to make this experience, to have this gaze which sees the destiny of a life given as the Master. Today’s Gospel text says, “Jesus came and stood in the middle.” It is not so much an apparition of Jesus who becomes visible and then becomes invisible again. It is rather the beginning of a new and stable presence which is seen by those who have the gaze of faith. When Jesus was previously with the disciples, he was conditioned by our material reality, with all the limitations that our human condition has in this world —now no more. Now Jesus ‘is’ among the disciples, in the midst of this community which is scattered throughout the world. He is not far from any of his disciples because the limits of the human condition no longer govern and, therefore, those who have a pure heart can see the Risen One who accompanies them on the path of this life. And indeed, some experience this presence—those who have a pure heart. Sometimes, if our mind and heart are not calm, we may not experience this presence and not have this gaze. The Risen One says: “Peace be with you. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side.” This is not an apologetic detail. See that I touch my hands—my side. In fact, to be recognized, it is not necessary to show the hands and the side, but the face. But the detail is very important. The proof of the identity of Jesus: he shows the hands. The hands that have been nailed to the cross and the side that has been pierced. This is his identity. We know that in the Semitic conception the hands indicate force, power, works for an action. What did Jesus come to do to this world? To show his hands. In the Old Testament, God’s hands were interpreted in various ways. Especially in the sense of force. “To fall into the hands of God,” it usually had a positive meaning, but it could also mean punishment. Let us remember the passage from the Exodus: “Your hand, Lord, crush the enemy” (Ex 15:6). How are these hands of God? It has been said that they fought, that God waged war with their hands. God has come to show his hands and Jesus, at the end of his existence in this world, shows his hands to the disciples: “These are the hands of God.” In the hands of Jesus, we were able to contemplate the revelation of the hands of God. What did these hands do? These are the hands that washed the feet of the disciples. Not a God who has made himself serve, but a God who with his own hands became a servant. He has put his strength, his capacity at the disposal of man’s life. His hands have been nailed to the cross because he was totally at the service of man and has revealed all the love of God. They were nailed; they are not hands that are used to harm. ‘Whatever they do to me ... I will tell them that I love them.’ These are the hands of God. This is the power of God’s hand: wash the feet, serve, make gestures of love for all. It is in these hands that the action of God, the work of God, the hand of God has been revealed. We remember that the people of Nazareth mentioned the wonders that had been made by his hands. What have these hands done that Jesus shows his disciples? They have touched the lepers —a forbidden thing to do because they were impure, they had to be avoided, they could not be touched. But NO, the hands of God have touched the lepers, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the woman who was crushed, they lifted up the paralytic. They are beautiful hands, hands that have caressed the children, which scandalized the disciples because the children were considered impure. But the hands of God caress the little ones. This is the revelation of the hands of God. Jesus shows his hands to tell us that our hands must be assimilated to his own. We have seen the hands of God and the Son of God must have the same hands which were revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, the Only Begotten Son. This is the Son of God and the Son of God is revealed when our hands do what the hands of Jesus have done. Then the side: this gesture of Jesus requires an explanation to avoid a misunderstanding which I think we have. This is: to think of the passionate love of Jesus —not the passion of the blows, the suffering, the sacrifice—yes, these happened but I want to show that these were not the only things that happened, and we think that it would have been better if these had not happened... Jesus did not go out to look for them. It is a moment that cannot be put in parentheses, because it is precisely that pierced side that shows the true God, all his love. Only the cross could reveal the face of God who loves even gifting his entire self, by giving up his life. Those wounds are the culmination of all that love story of Jesus —his identity as a lover of humanity. And, therefore, the sores of the passion are not the vestiges that it would be better to cancel. NO, they will remain for all eternity because they serve as the identification card of Jesus and of God. The side: the episode where the Roman soldier struck Jesus’ breast with his spear. And there the evangelist notes a very important detail: ‘from the side came blood and water’. Blood is life, life is given. Blood symbolizes life. Here, from that pierced side, of the gift of life of Jesus, the eternal life has arrived for us. It is the life that biological death cannot touch. And the water indicates, in the fourth gospel, the divine life, the Spirit. “And the disciples were glad to see the Lord.” They did not hide their joy. The ones who open their eyes and see the Risen One cannot but have joy in their heart because all their life is enlightened. The invitation for us is to open our eyes. The gospel text does not end here. It is not only the vision of the Risen One, but also the sending. Jesus says to his disciples: “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Jesus wants them to leave, to go to others. This is the mission that Jesus entrusts to the disciples: they must give continuity to this change of the world; to give continuity to the visible, tangible, sacramental presence of the Risen One. Jesus is the one sent: He makes the face of the Father present with his hands and with his pierced side. He is the new Man. He has shown these hands and this side to tell us that it is our job to make visible to others his person who gives life. And we are sent to behave in the same way, to be crucified for love. Therefore, the mission to which we are sent is none other than the donation of our lives to the brothers and sisters. And the Church exists precisely for this, to make present, to make visible the Risen Lord. Jesus became a man, he lived for 37 years in the time of Tiberius and, even before, of Caesar Augustus... A very limited life in space and time. But not now. It is now present through us. It is difficult to understand how he has had the courage to entrust us to make him present to all. Therefore, it is with great humility that we accept this mission. We can feel fragile and weak –and we are, but for this, Jesus gives us a strength which is not of this world, the strength of his Spirit, of his life, that Spirit, that divine energy that has led him to give himself totally. He has not taken it with him to heaven, he has left it with the community of the disciples. And in fact, “he breaths on them” and with this gesture says: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” which is the divine strength and life. This verb ‘to blow’, ‘enfusao’ in Greek, is a very rare term. We find it at the beginning of the Bible when God breaths on the mud that he had prepared and from there man was born. And here, with this breath of the Spirit, a new man is born. Not only the biological man, but the son of God who receives this breath of divine life. It is a new creation that is happening.

And then the mission: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” We know that the Council of Trent said that with this passage the sacrament of penance has been instituted for the forgiveness of sins. It is not only this. It is this, but not only this. Jesus did not address a restricted group, but all the disciples. It is all the disciples who have been entrusted with this mission of forgiving sin. ‘Afíemi’ in Greek means to ‘relieve’, ‘to unlock’. And every disciple must fulfill this mission of bringing people out of the wrong way—a road that has to be abandoned. If we do not fulfill this mission, the others will remain on that wrong path. We have to bring them to life. It is a huge responsibility which is not only for one group of disciples but for the whole Christian community. Jesus has given each of us the power to neutralize evil, to eliminate it. And it has given us this power, this Spirit, this ability. The community of Jesus must shine this light of love of life. And, on the other hand, those who have not accepted the responsibility of shining the light in front of the brothers and sisters, are responsible for not destroying sin. They are, therefore, responsible if the brothers and sisters remain in the darkness, in the lack of life. This is the great responsibility he has given us: to destroy sin in the world. We know what sin is: it is the non-life; it is to prevent from developing within the person the divine germ which has been given to him. Each of us is competing to let it grow within ourselves, and to grow in our brothers and sisters the Son of God. I wish you all a good feast and a good conclusion on this Easter pilgrimage.