Easter life! Thomas as model of discipleship

Listening to the Spirit

Even though Thomas doubted at the beginning, he professed his faith by exclaiming “My Lord and my God,” and came to believe. Lord, it is comforting to know that many of your servants doubted and were afraid, as well as we do many times. Help us to overcome our crisis and fears and see doubts not as obstacles but as a door to experience the mystery of life and as an opportunity for a profound encounter with the resurrected Christ. Send us the Holy Spirit, so that we may find Christ in our daily life and proclaim his holy name to the whole world.

Listening to the Word

John 20:19-31

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."

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but belief." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Reflection

We are people. More than that, we are modern people, and that means people who are meaninglessly overstretched by things that are meaningless. What we can contain in our heads is so little, only a constant stream of images moving through, appearing and disappearing. What do Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter mean, when tomorrow it will already be Monday, soon to be followed by Pentecost, Ordinary Time, Advent and Christmas? As fast as the forty days of Lent, the fifty days of Easter soon follows afterward.

After the solemn Easter Sunday, we celebrate Easter life. If last Sunday was a great day of full solemnity celebrated with big crowds, processions, songs, etc., we now enter the Easter life, still with solemnity and with all the elements of our daily lives. Now the Lord is sending us, as He was sent by the Father, to the “Mondays” of ordinary life with which most of the times are not shining days but days that are hard to face. He is nevertheless sending us while assuring us of his presence.

In this “Easter Life” where He is sending us, we sometimes experience fear. However, locked in our rooms, we learn from Him the value of forgiveness. Also, like Thomas, we are sometimes absent, doubtful about our faith, making questions and professing…My Lord and my God.

For many reasons, Thomas is a model of a disciple for us. While all others were inside, locked in fear, Thomas was outside, maybe doing something for the community. Whereas the others had one common experience of the Lord, Thomas desired to have one personal encounter with Him. Although the community kept the faith and rejoiced in having seen the Risen Lord, Thomas asked questions in order to deepen his faith. He wanted to see Him. How difficult is it to see the Lord in some situations? Indeed, He is there. These, and maybe many other elements approach our lives like Thomas. In this Easter life, we all pass through similar experiences like him. This gospel reading is not primarily about Thomas and his doubts. It is about us and our faith.

Nonetheless, these are not all to it, there is something greater at the end. Not for Thomas but for us. The words of the Lord… Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” This expression makes special reference to us, says St. Gregory the Great, for we have not seen him in the flesh but we know him in the mind. So, if we put our faith to proof by good works, we are blessed. He who gives expression to his faith is a genuine believer.

Because of Thomas, we are proclaimed blessed by the Lord. In the Easter life, the disciple is called to manifest the beatitude of his and her life; manifest in such way that even though in his or her life he or she is not able to experience love, he/she learns to love. Even though fewer times s/he experiences kindness, s/he is nevertheless kind to all and so on and forth.

Easter life is about the wounds we bring with us on our journey. In this time, the Lord makes us realize that the resurrection is not the false hope of pain that gives rise to wounds that won’t heal. It gives meaning to all wounds, our wounds and that of the Risen Christ’s.

We cannot say that we are truly close to a person if all we know are his or her strengths. It is an invitation to intimacy when a person shares his or her weaknesses with us. The Lord came to Thomas. He also comes to us, now in Easter life. He is not afraid to show His wounds and invite us to touch it in order to grow in intimacy with Him, to be able to touch the wounds of others and heal them. This is the great occasion of Easter life, “we need to open the door of our hearts to Jesus - say Pope Francis - who stands and knocks (cf. Rev 3:20).” Sometimes I wonder, though, if perhaps Jesus is already inside us and knocking at the door of our hearts means having allowed Him to escape from our state of self-centeredness… After the resurrection, when the disciples went forth towards all directions, the Lord accompanied them (cf. Mk 16:20). This is what happens as a result of a true encounter.

Happy Easter life!