Second Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2019
John 20, 19-31
Thomas, that man
who will always be known as the doubter, Doubting Thomas. Thomas is the man who
had to touch Jesus in order to believe, the man who had to see before he had
faith. I don't want to focus on Thomas today; I want to focus on Jesus. Reading
the Gospel today it doesn't seem to me that Jesus was interested in chastising
Thomas, he doesn't call him a doubter, no Jesus wants Thomas to believe. If he
has to touch, then go ahead and touch, if he has to see, then open your eyes.
Jesus wants Thomas to believe, Jesus wants us to believe. Do you remember the last
line of the gospel? If not, I can read it again ...
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.
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
Believe! The
desire of Jesus is that we all believe. That is why he rose from the dead, so that we might believe. That's
why he appeared at eleven, that’s why he appeared to Tomas. Jesus wants them
believe. In the gospel of today Jesus is not really scolding Tomas, no, he's
inviting Tomas to believe. The gospel ends by saying that Jesus did many more
works for the same purpose, so that we may be believers.
Last Saturday here
at Saint Alfonsus we baptized 36 people:
26 of them were older, the other 10 were
children. I had the opportunity to speak with them, with those who were
baptized and they told me why they wanted to be baptized. They wanted to be baptized
because they had seen these signs Jesus is talking about. They all said they
were baptized, or wanted to be members of the church for the works that others
did in their lives. The deeds of other Catholics. They spoke of their spouses, Mother-in-laws,
members here of our Church. They had the desire to be part of us because they
saw the presence of Jesus through us.
It says that only
some of the works of Jesus were written in the Bible, but he did many more. And
we know that is true because Jesus continues to perform signs in the world. And
he does these miracles through us.
At the beginning
of today's Gospel Jesus gives us the gift of peace and then says: As the Father
has sent me, so I send them. That is the mission of Catholic Christians in the
world today, to be living signs so that others can look at our community and
say, "There I see the presence of Christ.
Now the works we
are called to do are many. I've talked about some last week, but today I just
want to talk about one sign. Jesus gives us the gift of the Spirit:
"Receive the Holy
Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
We have been given
the gift of the Spirit to be an instrument forgiveness and mercy. This is our
vocation as Christians; it is what we are called to do. We are called to be
instruments of forgiveness and mercy in the world today. As you know, today is
Divine Mercy Sunday; this is also the mission of the Redemptorists. That is why
St. Alphonsus founded the congregation of the Redemptorists, so that we may be
instruments of forgiveness and mercy in the world today.
Today isn’t the
only Sunday for Mercy; every day should be opportunity to share the mercy of
the Lord. It is not the vocation only of the Redemptorists, it is the vocation
of all Christians, to be instruments of forgiveness and mercy and the world.
What is the
opposite of Mercy? It is Judgment. So our mission as Christians in the world
today is to stop judging others and to begin sharing Mercy and love. If people
look to us and see as a community of mercy and Love they will see Jesus’
presence in our midst. If they look at us and see judgment and condemnation,
they won’t be able to see Jesus.
Our vocation is
very clear, we are called to continue the wonderful works of Jesus. Especially
works of forgiveness and mercy, but there is one last part. Why does Jesus want
us to perform signs, so that others can believe and why believe? That believing
they may have life in his name.
Now I can explain
what it means to believe. I can give examples of believers, and of people who
do not believe. I can speak of the signs we are called to do, and give many
examples. But life in Jesus’ name ... I have no words. I have in my mind what
life with Jesus is going to be like. But it is only a vague idea, all I can say
is try to imagine eternal life ... now multiply this image by 100. Now multiply
this by another 100. The only thing we can say is that life with Jesus is much
more than we could imagine, it is the gift that Christ wants to give freely to
us, all we have to do is believe. And believing we have eternal life.
So our mission as
Catholic Christians is quite clear. We have to continue to do the works of
Jesus. We have to be instruments of love and Mercy in the world today. We
preform signs, so that others might believe, and believing they have life in
Jesus name.
Comments
Post a Comment