Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thomas, “one of the Twelve,” was not there on Easter Sunday. He stands for the skeptic in all of us. “Unless I see with my own eyes … I will not believe.” He now wants convincing proof. “I won’t believe a word you say unless I can myself put my hands into his wounds.”
The following Sunday – the Sunday we are celebrating today, Jesus becomes present again. There is the reassuring greeting of ‘Peace.’ Thomas is directly addressed. “Put your finger here; look at my hands. Put your hand in my side. Don’t doubt any longer but believe.” There follows the greatest confession of faith in all of the gospels: “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas had been invited to touch the wounds, but he does not seem to have done so. And his cry of recognition is not based only on the evidence of his senses. He does not say, “Jesus, it’s you!” but “My Lord and my God!” It is, in fact, a profound act of faith in the reality and identity of the person standing before him. And that is something he cannot see only with his physical senses. Only the eyes of faith can lead him to speak so.
A word of encouragement, though, is offered for those of us who have not had Thomas’ privileged experience: “Blessed, happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Our faith enables us to see him in all the surroundings of our daily life, especially in those people who are filled with his Spirit and who bring him into our lives. And we also see and find him in all the sick, the weak, the oppressed, the poor around us who provide us with opportunities to know, love, and show compassion for Jesus.
To see and know Jesus in our lives is, at the same time, to recognize where he comes to us and at the same time to be ready for day-to-day opportunities when we can bring him into the lives of others. We do this by living lives of integrity, love, and compassion, of real justice for all. When we do that, Easter is celebrated, and Jesus is alive among us.
With Love and Blessings,
Fr Damian