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THEN (JESUS) said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." 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 believe." [Jn 20:27-29]

Artist: Victor Luciano Rebuffo

(1903-1983)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

ENTERING HIS WOUNDS ^_[1]

LUKE'S TESTIMONY

1. From St. Luke's Acts of the Church, we read, "Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles." [Acts 5:12] Luke's testimony is true, for these signs and wonders confirm the pledge Jesus made to his disciples in the moments preceding his ascension: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." [Mt 28:20]

2. In the Spirit of Truth, Christ abides dynamically in the Church he founded. Moreover, Our Lord vouchsafes the indefectibility of the Church, that is to say, he graciously safeguards his eternal Bride from corruption and the powers of death. [cf. Mt 16:18]

BEARING HIS LIKENESS

3. The world must know that no decree or polity in this present age, no cartel or hegemony, no dominion or privilege will prevail against the Bride the members of her divine household. She and her faithful attendants await the Grooms return, their lamps filled with the Holy Spirit and burning brightly! [cf. Mt 25:1-13]

4. Christ wills that his Church bear his likeness. Therefore, she possesses the perfection of eternity and light. The Church will never perish. Members of the laity and clergy can err and sin grievously, but she herself remains faultless and irreproachable.

SOLID ROCK

5. For Peter's apostasy did not shatter the chosen and precious Cornerstone who established him as a foundation stone of the heavenly city and inscribed his name on the gate. [cf. 1Pet 2:4-8] Nor was the tempest of Peter's apostasy a superior power that could dispossess the longed-for inheritance of faith soon to come from heaven to fill all God's house. [cf. Acts 2:2-3]

6. Idolatrous Babel scattered in dissolution in ancient days [cf. Gen 11:1-9], yet even now Holy Mother Church safely shelters her children as a city founded on solid rock. She has been well-founded by the hands of him to whom she has been betrothed. [cf. Lk 6:48; Acts 17:24-25]

SIGNS AND WONDERS

7. For Christ set himself as her cornerstone in the beginning of all things. In the appointed time and to the astonishment of the world, the Son pours out his abundant divine blessing over Zion's outstretched hand. [cf. Psa 102:13]

8. Working signs and wonders, then, the apostles learn to confidently bestride the temporal and spiritual realms, curing the sick and releasing souls oppressed by demons. The hands of the apostles are transfigured by the Spirit. They grasp the trembling hands of the weak and helpless, infusing the power of God--"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" [Acts 2:17]--into their disordered lives.

MEETING THE MIRACLE

9. Many of the sick eagerly anticipated the apostles' outstretched hands. For some, the possibility of not being able to touch an apostle was worse than physical suffering. The sick waited for an apostle to touch them; they prayed silently for Peter's shadow to banish their infirmities.

10. Whether a devoted supplicant is zealous or constrained matters little, for Christ intends that each of his faithful followers receive the fullness of his Spirit. Christ does not apportion the Spirit [cf. Jn 3:34], nor is the Spirit's work dependent on the outpouring of enthusiasm. Yet the people rightly yearned for the moment of their restoration. They leaned forward for the gift, their eyes shining, their hearts inflamed. They raised themselves up to meet the miracle.

SPIRITUAL EXHAUSTION

11. The work of healing is hard, and the demanding ministry to which the apostles assiduously applied their hands did not spare them from spiritual exhaustion and the need to refresh themselves in spirit and truth. [Jn 4:23; Acts 3:19]

12. Spiritual exhaustion strikes in other ways. Thomas, far from the insouciant figure portrayed by many writers, recovered more slowly from the death of the Lord than the other apostles. Jesus' crucifixion, and its apparent finality, traumatized his faith. Sacred Scripture offers evidence that Thomas doubted the courage and hard work which sustains genuine hope.

DOUBTING THOMAS

13. He questioned whether Jesus actually rose from the dead on the third day as had been reported by eyewitnesses; he would not believe accounts of the resurrection unless and until he was given an opportunity to perform a post-mortem on the Lord himself. "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails," vows Thomas, "and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." [Jn 20:25] Regrettably, the skeptical Thomas diminished his apostleship by emulating the lamentable and ambitious Adam who stuck his hand in the side of a tree to test the truth reserved to God alone. [cf. Gen 3]

14. Then again, having abandoned Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Thomas was not at Golgotha to see for himself what transpired. He did not witness how Jesus shattered the primal human fear--"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" [Mk 15:34]--with his supreme act of abandonment to his heavenly father on the cross: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" [Lk 23:46] Hence, Christ rebuked Thomas for denying the good news he heard from the apostles themselves, for demanding forensic proof and his own private revelation.

GREAT MODEL OF FAITH

15. The Lord humbled the doubting Thomas before the incomprehensible power of his resurrection. Neither Thomas nor any human being can stand in judgment of the resurrection, for no mortal possesses the power to overthrow the one who was resurrected. [cf. Lk 12:14-21] Consider Joseph of Egypt, one of the great models of faith to be found in the Old Testament. The seventeen year old Joseph suffered catastrophe, sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers.

16. The Book of Genesis recounts that Joseph's exile from his family, his servitude and imprisonment lasted many years. In spite of grievous setbacks, Joseph's faith never wavered. He trusted in God irrespective of his circumstances; he rejected any temptation to despondency and disillusionment. For his part, God exalted Joseph in the deserts of Egypt. Prophesying the future deliverance of Israel, God enfolded Joseph, journeyed at his side, showed him steadfast love, and prospered him in all his works. [cf. Gen 39:3, 21-23]

FAITH, NOT SIGHT

17. On the eighth day following his resurrection, Jesus appears to his cloistered apostles, saying, "Peace be with you." [Jn 20:26] He immediately confronts Thomas' ambivalence regarding the apostles' first-hand testimony. Markedly, Jesus confronts the very conditions which his dubious apostle claimed were indispensable for belief.

18. But not without a command. The Lord orders Thomas: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side", and addressing himself to the spirit of doubt rooted deep within Thomas, "Do not be faithless, but believing." [Jn 20:27] The wounds of Christ were incontestable as Thomas ruefully verified. Nevertheless, as wisdom perfects the knowledge on which it is based, faith triumphs over sight for it receives the Lord's blessing.

TEST OF FAITH

19. Jesus addressed Thomas' problem decisively, but it was not the Lord's intent to eradicate the problem of doubt from the Christian community by a wave of his hand. The Lord Jesus willed that doubt remain as a perennial test of faith until the parousia (Gk. coming of Christ in glory) when he would "reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross". [Col 1:19]

20. Interestingly, the Epistle of James echoes the terse confrontation between Jesus and Thomas found in Johns gospel. The epistle opens with James--the leader of the Jerusalem Church--presenting his credentials. His title and role are united in a single word, servant, the precise and indispensable mark of the priesthood.

SPIRITUAL SICKNESS

21. Almost immediately, James must grapple with a melancholic exhaustion which has fastened itself on the faith community. Rampant doubt, he writes, subbjects a believers' faith to corruption and fragmentation. Such a one is double-minded, that is to say, the doubter permits a separation or a distortion of the content of his faith. He experiences the "doubling" of his mind. Many believers in the Jerusalem Church wavered between faith and doubt.

22. The double-minded person is "like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind". [Jas 1:6] Whether afflicting one or many Christians, doubt is an ominous spiritual sickness. The agent of doubt is dissension and its outbreak in the Church brings death to the community of faith.

23. The mighty acts of God--the most glorious being the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead--are intended to kindle mercy in the hearts of believers and to toughen their spiritual resolve. The symptom of dissension, however, is a pernicious and enervating anxiety--the apostle defines it as instability in all one's ways--convulsing the will and provoking lawlessness. [Jas 1:7] So, cautions James, let the Spirit-filled man who wishes to receive something from the Lord "ask in faith with no doubting". [Jas 1:6-7]

CONCRETE REALITY

24. The Book of Exodus records a desperate act of instability which threatened to destroy the Hebrew people. On one occasion, when Moses had spent much time on Mt. Sinai, the people encamped below became restless and insubordinate. Cooperating with Aaron, Moses' brother, the elders of the people forge a golden idol shaped in the form of a calf. Moses fervently intercedes to stay God's wrath against the Hebrews' apostasy. The prophet pleads for God to overlook the dire consequences of the Hebrews double-mindedness. [cf. Ex 32:1-14]

25. Thus Moses, mediating for the children of Israel, knew God's mercy as did his ancestor Joseph: "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." [Deu 32: 10-11] As Thomas discovered for himself, faith is a concrete reality not a fiction or idle daydreams. Still less is faith a function of fear.

CONSTANT IN FAITH

26. Jesus was incarnated into human form. Jesus broke bread and blessed it. Jesus suffered on the cross, died and rose from the dead for the salvation of many. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe," says the Lord. [Jn 20:29] Thomas' compulsion to probe the saviour's wounds is not permitted by Christ to be the norm of faith. Thomas has become an icon for all who believe yet lack confidence. [cf. Mk 9:24; Mt 28:16-17]

27. Nevertheless, Christ counsels his apostles to trust him always and be ever constant in faith. Jesus breathed on the apostles and sent his Spirit of Peace to the Church. Unquestionably, all Christians need to enter salvation through the wounds of Christ. But whereas Thomas tested Jesus with his double-mindedness, we must enter the mysteries of salvation by faith and with steadfast hearts.

MORNING STAR

28. Accordingly, the reign of anxiety and inconstancy is overthrown, its pillars are shattered, its message is dissolved. Christ, the light of infinite magnitudes, is the bright morning star (Lat. stella splendida et matutina) [cf. Rev 22:16] before whose "glory as of the only Son from the Father" [Jn 1:14] no stronghold can prevail.

29. To him whom the Father has glorified, we entrust our lives. To him who reigns as the Morning Star, we entrust our future. Christ, the "spring of water welling up to eternal life" [cf. Jn 4:14], is never exhausted by any power or dominion, nor Satan's hegemony of sin, nor imprisonment, nor exile or death or any other diabolic compulsion. [cf. Eph 6:2]

STOREHOUSE OF FAITH

30. Jesus reveals himself to us in dramatic and varied ways as he showed himself to Thomas. The rich storehouse of faith is manifested by the gospel and countless other things Jesus said and did. [cf. Jn 21:25] Moreover, the evangelist John declares that were the world itself an archive, it would collapse under the prodigious volume of Our Lord's glorious accomplishments.

31. Were all Christological events or discourses memorialized, the world would be no more than a single shelf before a cosmic mountain of books written about Jesus Christ, infinite in height and immeasurable in breadth. [cf. Jn 21:25]

^[1] Cycle C /Second Sunday of Easter /Acts 5:12-16 /Rev 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19 /Jn 20:19-31.