2nd.
Sunday of Easter (C)
(Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-19; John 20:19-31)
On thinking about today’s Gospel reading it might
seem strange that the risen Jesus should go to such lengths to prove to the apostle
Thomas that He was no ghost, that He was a real man with flesh and bones and
with blood cursing through His veins; glorified indeed -- had He had not just
entered the room although the doors were closed? -- but nevertheless still recognizably
real and objectively present to and with His apostles in the room:
Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Put your
finger here and see My hands. Reach out
your hand and put it into My side. Stop
doubting and believe.
After doing so much for Thomas, why does Jesus
today refrain from doing anything similar for modern people to prove that He is
really with us? We have to accept the
truth about the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and presence to us, for us, and
with us, by faith ... how come that
Thomas got so much proof?
First of all notice that Thomas did indeed have
faith. A scientist seeing what Thomas
saw might simply say, ‘There is something here I cannot understand, but science
will be able to explain it later.
Indeed, if I could scientifically study this over a period of time in
all its various and relevant aspects, I myself could probably explain it. For the present I will just have to suspend
judgement.’ That was not the attitude of
Thomas: straightway he leapt from fact to faith when, after touching the wounds
... fact ... he immediately declared his faith ... with those momentous words:
My
Lord and my God!
Thomas’ sense of touch only confirmed what his
eyes saw; and with those earthly eyes he did but see the wounds in Jesus’ hands
and side, he did not, could not, see God.
It was the light of faith alone which enabled him to recognize the truth
about Jesus and proclaim, My Lord and my
God.
There is more to it, however, than simply
that. Something happened to the apostles
when Thomas was absent, as we heard in the Gospel reading:
Jesus came and stood in the midst of
the Apostles and said to them, ‘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.’
Up till then the Eleven, had been a group of
individuals, united indeed by their love of Jesus, but still a more or less
ordinary group capable of breaking up and each going their own way as when
Jesus was apprehended. However, when the
Risen Jesus appeared to them -- in Thomas’ absence -- He gave them a
distinctive and exclusive mission, As the
Father has sent Me, so I send you, after which He bestowed on them the Gift
of His own most Holy Spirit with power to forgive and retain sins, as you have
just heard. After that moment those ten
apostles in the room with Jesus were no longer ten individuals, friends, all
interested in and concerned about Jesus’ end, they had been formed into an
enduring unity of unique significance and universal consequence for mankind’s
salvation: the CHURCH. When Thomas originally,
and despite what the other Apostles and Mary said, refused to believe until he himself
had seen and touched the wounds of Jesus, he knew little or nothing about the
Church ... he only knew a group of certain individual friends of Jesus, each
with their own hopes and fears, sorrows and longings, each with their very
personal and at times quite obvious limitations and failings. That is why Thomas needed -- and was given by
his Lord and God -- that extra help that we today are not offered because we
have something still better, we have the witness of that Church established by
Jesus; and, in her, we are become members of His very own Body empowered and
ennobled by His Holy Spirit Who has washed away the sins that would prevent us
from truly recognizing, and overcome the frailties that would impede us from
fully loving and serving, Jesus.
The Church, God’s Chosen People, is, as I have
said, the Body of Christ, the Temple
where Jesus has promised to be -- for our finding -- until the end of time; she
is the Spouse He will never desert, and the loving Mother of all God’s children
born in baptism, through faith in Jesus as sent by the heavenly Father, and by
the gift of His most Holy Spirit. Her
sacraments give us the food of life; while the word of Jesus -- alive in her --
is for a light to the nations and the glory of all God’s children.
Poor Thomas!
On being told of the first apparition of Jesus to the assembled
disciples in the gospel he was only an individual human being ... we, on the
other hand, are so blessed: being members of the Church, having her witness to
the truth and the abiding presence of Jesus her Head, with her sacraments channelling
for us and accomodating to us the power of His Spirit. At that moment, Thomas’ refusal was blunt and
absolute – a true expression of his personal character – nevertheless, when subsequently,
on his own, he had the time and opportunity to think things over, he must have
become deeply conscious of the separation between himself and his hitherto mutually
committed friends and companions, and how he must have longed to be able to
share their new found peace and strength drawn from this so-called Risen Lord
Whom he himself could not, as yet, fully embrace. This longing was indeed God’s prompting that
would prepare him to embrace his second opportunity when Jesus once again
appeared to all Eleven of His apostles ... an opportunity for which Thomas had
been humbly seeking in his heart and mind, an occasion when his touching of
Jesus’ wounds prompted and Jesus’ words encouraged him to a total personal
commitment of faith towards the Risen Lord he had long loved.
For faith is -- as the Compendium of our
Catechism teaches -- the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation; it is, indeed, a free gift of God accessible to all who humbly seek it. The act of faith is a truly human act, an act
of the intellect of a human person who, prompted and encouraged by God, freely assents to divine truth revealed
by God and proclaimed by Mother Church.
Faith is certain and works through charity. It is, even now, a foretaste of the joys of heaven;
and how this very occasion of today’s celebration evokes such joy for us because
one called, at times, ‘doubting Thomas’ should so manifestly provoke and lead us
to such great appreciation of and joy in the Church and the Faith as is ours
today!!
Yes we Catholics rejoice in Mother Church and our
Faith, two supremely wonderful and complementary gifts of God. Our faith is indeed a joy because it is SURE
when so much in life is belittled and betrayed by insecurity ... life-long love
and enduring commitment and fidelity between man and wife is hardly expected
today and, indeed, frequently mocked in so many presentations of modern life in
society where personal gain and pleasure, public approval or even mere
acceptance or tolerance, are more than enough to tip the scales against any
prospective possibility of sacrifice. For intellectual, or even religiously-inclined
people, Catholic faith can be deemed impossible because the world and our
knowledge of it are changing so rapidly that no one can know what time may
bring. One former Christian acquaintance
of mine, thus afflicted, could not say, when asked about the divinity of Jesus,
what he might ‘believe’ in ten years’ time.
Consequently, for so many, instead of the sure light of faith guiding towards the fulfillment
of our human destiny and the abiding promise of a God-given future, there is only
an individual, or at best shared, opinion;
available, not indeed to guide onwards, but merely to hopefully justify past,
personal, options. There is no love in-and-through
life, just adventitious adaptations to whatever might seem the best available
personal option.
Catholic Faith, because it is founded on the Word
of God, is both sure and certain: it is essential for salvation because it
alone can respond fittingly to the great Goodness of God and the sublimity of
His promises made to mankind in Jesus.
Even though, for example, one can still read past issues of national and
international papers recounting the wonders witnessed by thousands at Fatima
and Lourdes, even though pilgrims still today experience startling cures at
those and similar shrines, nevertheless every new generation wants to experience for itself so much
that, without such corroborating personal experience, the reports of others gradually
lose compelling attention and are, inevitably forgotten or simply no longer
taken into account. Faith alone can
respond to and overcome such depradations of our human character by time and
cupidity.
People of God, there is so much truth and beauty
brought to our attention today – I have not even mentioned the wonderful
promptings of God spoken of in the Catechism, promptings that speak directly to
individual hearts and minds, that relate to individual and secret needs, hopes
and aspirations! – so much for which time and space cannot supply, but for
which sincere gratitude to the God of our Faith, and thanks to Thomas and the
apostolic proclamation of our Mother Church, must provide our present comfort
and consolation, our abiding hope and longing, our inspiration and delight in Jesus.
