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Reverend Jerry Singleton’s Homily

Second Sunday of Easter

March 30, 2008

In today’s Gospel according to John, we see Thomas the Apostle saying to his fellow apostles, after they related to him that Christ had appeared to them, “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my fingers into his nail marks, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” From that quote, the apostle Thomas was labeled “doubting Thomas”. This is somewhat unfair to Thomas, because the reality is that most of us might react likewise. We need to remember that after the resurrection that His apostles and disciples were very slow to believe that He had risen from the dead. When Christ reappears a week later He says to Thomas, “put your fingers here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe”. And Thomas goes on to answer Him “my Lord and my God” and then Christ says to him “you have come to believe because you have seen me, blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” This last line is a perfect example of the gift of faith that all of us possess, because we believe what we have not seen. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead based on the traditions and the beliefs handed down to us in Church, and the gift of faith that we have received from God. Without that gift of faith and belief in the resurrection, as we mentioned last Sunday, there would be no basis for everything that we believe in our faith. The Nativity, His teachings, and His values wouldn’t have the same value, His death wouldn’t have any value, if Christ hadn’t risen from the dead. The simple fact is that Christ had promised that He would rise from the dead and He was going to be judged by that promise. So the question becomes for us, how do we experience the resurrection in our daily lives? Well if we look at today’s Gospel, and what Christ said to Thomas, “put your fingers here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side”, the reality is that in our everyday life we often experience the risen Christ.

We experience Him in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist every Sunday, where He offers Himself up in sacrifice for us to the Father. And it is in the Eucharist that we get the food to nourish us as we leave the Church and try and live out the Eucharist and the risen Christ in our daily lives. This is how we will experience the risen Christ, just as Thomas did. Christ invites us to come and put our fingers into his hands and his feet and he invites us to put our hand into his side so that we can experience him. You may well ask where does this happen? Where do we meet him so that we touch his wounds in his feet, and in his hands, and in his side?

We do so when we see in our daily lives those who are vulnerable, like Christ was at the time of his death. We see his vulnerability in the wounded children and the unprotected children, not only in our own country but throughout the world. We see his wounded hands and feet and side in the aged who are abandoned by their families, and have no one to care for them. We see his wounded side and hands and feet in the physically and mentally challenged, and in their families who bear the burden. We see the wounded, resurrected Christ in those who are suffering physically, mentally, and those suffering from addictions, all of them remind us of the wounded risen Christ.

So in our daily lives as we leave this church, nourished by the Eucharist, we need to be conscious that these represent the risen Christ to us.

We also experience the risen wounded Christ in those who have gently touched our lives when we experience the wounds of life. When we experience the pains of life. When we experience the fears of life. And just as Christ healed Thomas’s lack of faith , so He also heals our fear and our pains, and therefore as we go about our lives let us be grateful to all those who have and who today touch our lives in a healing manner. So therefore, we have a lot in common with Thomas today. We have a lot to be grateful to him for, because he reminds us of the wounded risen Christ in our own daily lives as we live out in the community and in the world, and we are constantly reminded of these words “put your fingers here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe”.

© 2008 Saint Anthony Catholic Church, Fort Laud., Florida