Give Thanks to God Who Is Good, God’s Love Is Everlasting
On this 2nd Sunday of Easter, Psalm 118 is the same all three years of the liturgical cycle. It also is used at the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. It is the great festival psalm that has become the Easter psalm of the Church. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, of praise, of indebtedness. God’s love for us existed before we existed and will remain forever. We proclaim God’s loving kindness, enjoy the grace of God’s help, and remember what Jesus did for us – the stone rejected has become the cornerstone. God continues to work in unexpected ways. In the Gospel, even after the eyewitness testimony of the disciples, Thomas could not believe. He was not there yet in belief until he had his own personal experience. The gifts of the Word of God and the sacraments have been passed down from generation to generation by the disciples of Jesus. They have been safeguarded and cherished by our ancestors in faith. May we remember, may we proclaim, may we rejoice in God’s love on this Sunday which completes the Easter octave, eight days of rejoicing in the resurrection.
Now let Israel say, “God’s love is forever!”
Let the house of Aaron say, “God’s love is forever!”
Let all who revere God say, “God’s love is forever!”
I was pushed to falling, but God gave me help.
My strength, my song is the Almighty, who has become my savior.
Glad songs of victory sound within the tents of the just.
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the cornerstone.
This is the work of God, how wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day God has made; Let us be glad and rejoice in it.
[verses adapted from The Psalter © 1995, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications.]