John 20: 19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then 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.”

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told 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 in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

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

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations

In The World’s Wounds

Thomas demanded proof that the Lord had risen. He needed to touch the Lord’s wounds if he was to believe. When the Lord appeared to him, perhaps he saw first the Lord’s wounds. Thomas touched them and heard the words: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  He believed.

The Lord’s disciples walked in the midst of pain and sorrow daily. They saw the hunger, the oppression, the exploitation. Yet they dared to believe that the Risen Lord stood in the midst of the world. They dared to believe that the Lord had taken as His own the wounds of the poor, the oppressed, and the exploited.  And that for all time the Lord would carry these wounds.

We, today, look around and see the same things that the first disciples had seen. We see the exploited and the oppressed, the poor and the homeless. Do we dare to believe that the Risen Lord is still present in the midst of the world’s wounds?

—Fr. Robert Flack, S.J. is a retreat director at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House, Barrington IL.

Prayer

The Risen Christ is with us this day
And he continues to need each one of you.
Jesus needs your eyes to continue to see.
He needs your strength to continue to work.
He needs your voice to continue to preach.
He needs your hands to continue to bless.
He needs your heart to continue to love.
And Jesus needs your whole being to continue to build up his body, the Church.
As we believe, so let us live!

—Cardinal Joseph Bernardin