Believing Thomas

Second Sunday of Easter

April 19, 2020

John 20, 19-31

Thomas, that man who will always be known as the doubter, Doubting Thomas. Thomas the one 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.

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 Thomas. Jesus wants them believe. Jesus wants us to 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.

Saint Mary’s is a community of believers. That is what joins us together, that is what we share in common. We are believers. God certainly is testing our faith these days isn’t he? It has been a difficult year. Back in September the whole pastoral team here left, Frs. Steve, Gary, John, Joe, Chung and Marcel all went to different pastoral assignments. Then in November Dr. Jim our music minister was called home to God and in December Father Steve passed away. It had been a difficult first few months, and then when we just getting on our feet this virus hit and the governor’s stay at home order. Not only are we ordered to stay at home, many of us have lost jobs, some people have gotten sick and are in the hospital. Some have even been called home to God and many have had to suffer the pain of death without being able to hold the hand of a loved one and then celebrate a graveside service with only 10 people present, all wearing masks standing 6 feet apart. Yes, it is hard. How do we continue on when God is testing our faith?

Our Gospel for this morning is almost the end of John’s Gospel, chapter 20 and the Gospel ends with chapter 21. So towards the end John says, “Now Jesus did many other signs, signs that are not written here.” And we know that is true because Jesus continues to perform signs in the world. And he does these miracles through us. We are the body of Christ. We are the presence of Jesus in the world today.

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 and in the 8 months that I’ve been here I’ve seen many of these signs, just one is our food bank. When this stay at home order began and many people lost their jobs we immediately saw a need and so many of you have helped to answer that need. We do many other things that are signs of Jesus working through us but today I walk to focus on just one sign. Jesus gives us the gift of the Spirit:

"Receive the Holy Spirit. 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, there aren’t enough words in Spanish, they aren’t enough words in English and even if we spoke every language on the face of this earth there still wouldn't be enough 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 multiple 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.