In addition, of
course, to our Lord, this Sunday another character draws much attention, I mean
the good Thomas, Thomas the man full of doubts and dark, the stubborn man with
a big heart. And you know, Thomas is not very different from you and me, he had
put all his hope on Jesus. He left everything he had, his whole life, and
followed Jesus for three years. He witnessed the Lord’s miracles, he was held spellbound
by Jesus’ preaching, and he was certain that he would have an important place
in that kingdom[1].
And then Jesus
was arrested, and crucified. Everything seemed lost: the hope for the future,
the conquest of the Kingdom of God, and worse than all this was that Jesus was
lost to his closest friends. Thomas’ mourning was so great that he simply could
not believe it when he heard the other disciples say that they had seen the
Lord. It seemed like a cruel hoax, just re-opening the wounds of losing Christ.
He would not believe them. What they were saying... was too good to be true!
But it was true. All that Jesus said was true,
including his promise to rise from the dead. The Gospel does not record that
Thomas touched Jesus’ hands and side as so many painting depict; just that
Jesus offered them to Thomas. What the Gospel does record is Thomas’ immediate
response, My Lord and My God, the
same response all of us have when interiorly we pray before the elevated Body
of Christ and Blood of Christ during Mass. I would think that Thomas did not
need to touch the Lord. He only had to enjoy the presence of the Savior.
So what is the
main point of this Sunday? What is the lesson we take home? Well, we all know
many people who do not believe in the Lord simply because, like doubting
Thomas, everything about the Lord seems too good to be true. So many people
squander their lives on superficialities: their iPad is more important than their brother or sister, their hopes
for the future revolve around money, and they become disappointed over and over
again. There are people close to us who have put all their hope on a
relationship that is not rooted in the Lord. “I thought this was the right
person for me,” someone says, “and then she or he cheated on me, cheated on our
marriage, or just dumped me for someone else.” Or, there are those who base all
their hope on their work as a goal. So they say, “I thought this job, this
career, this school, would be perfect for me, but it is not all” So many people have been so disappointed
throughout their lives that they can’t believe that something, Someone, could
be better than they ever imagined...
So, the doubting
Thomases of our world, those who doubt life, need us. They need us to tell them
about Jesus Christ with our lives as well as with our words and deeds. They
need us to explain how His Presence
in our lives makes life so beautiful, so worthwhile. They need us to tell them
about that weekend we spent on an ACTS retreat when we realized that we were happier
than we have ever been[2]. They
need us to tell them how we felt at our babies’ baptisms, and how we feel the
times that we listen to our children pray, and the genuine pride we have in our
and young adult.
When your
friends ask you, “Why did you go to Church during Holy Week or every Sunday?” Or,
simply, “Why do you take your faith so seriously?” Tell them, “I love the Lord,
and I love having Him in my life. And every time I think that my life can’t get
any better, He finds a way to make it better.”
There are a lot
of doubting Thomases in the world. There are a lot of people who do not believe
that the happiness of the Lord is offered also to them. There are a lot of
people who do not believe that life can be better with the Lord. There are a
lot of people who think that Christ is… too good to be true!
They need us.
They need the experience of our happiness. They need us to point the way to
Jesus Christ, so let's ask ourselves this Sunday at our time of reflection with
Jesus what we do or what we are doing for others. Do I live such kind of life
that all those around me feel the faith? May Thomas the Apostle, that man of
great faith and great heart, intercede for us, and may we very often say: Lord
increase my faith! ■
[1] Sunday 15th
April, 2012, 2nd Sunday of Easter. W. Acts 4:32-35. Give thanks to the Lord for
he is good, his love is everlasting—Ps 117(118):2-4, 15-18, 22-24. 1 John
5:1-6. John 20:19-31.
[2] Through the ACTS
retreats, ACTS Missions provides the spark that ignites Catholics, worldwide,
with the true eternal flame of the Holy Spirit. As an instrument of God, ACTS
is the light that will bring about New Evangelization to the entire world by
fostering love and true discipleship, leading others to a commitment and
obedience to Our Lord Jesus Christ by our every word, action and thought.
