Today is the second Sunday of Easter, aka Divine Mercy Sunday.
In today’s Gospel we hear the story of Doubting Thomas. I heard one of our priests here say in response to a question about doubts that it is normal to doubt but we shouldn’t let doubts become denial. I would add to that the need to pray for understanding and faith when we have doubts.
Once Thomas felt the wounds of Christ he proclaimed his faith by saying “My Lord and my God”. It is the same faith we proclaim when we say amen upon encountering Jesus in the Eucharist.
Thomas believed but he saw. For us, we are in the category of those who haven’t seen but still believe. That is what Jesus really wants as He called those blessed.
Our second reading references this believing without seeing as well. I’ve said over the years how much easier it would have been to travel with Christ as those first followers did and be eyewitnesses to all that He said and did. We likely would have died with Him/for Him as well, but that was just part of the deal I suppose.
As modern people we have this tendency to only believe what we can see or experience with our senses. Science is a wonderful thing but it isn’t everything. As Bishop Barron likes to point out there are some things science isn’t able to prove, those supernatural things. In matters of faith we have to decide if God is trustworthy and if our experience of Him leads us to faith or not. Pope Benedict began, and Pope Francis completed, an encyclical called Lumen Fidei, that talks at length about all of this. If you’ve never read it I highly recommend it. https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20130629_enciclica-lumen-fidei_en.pdf
So let us pray for the eyes to see, and senses to experience, God in our own experiences that we might also exclaim “My Lord and my God” as we encounter Christ.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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