Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The doors were locked and no one could enter, even the Lord, for fear of the Jews. This was the situation of the apostles even one week after the resurrection. They were gathered together on the evening of the new sabbath (Sunday) to ‘do this in memory of me’. To do what? To celebrate the breaking of the bread, to celebrate the Eucharist. They gathered on the first day of the week, Sunday, which began on the evening of the night before. Through this celebration they can experience communion, fraternity with one another, and they can overcome their fears. The same can happen to us and does happen to many of us as you said in the survey we did over a year ago.
So how are you today? Are you enclosed in on yourself, on your problems and your projects? Are the doors to your heart locked up? Easter was a great passing of the Lord for me. I was really exhausted on Holy Saturday and that night had an all night vigil till 5 AM and somehow the Lord gave me a great deal of peace, patience and energy. I hope the Lord showed himself to you also and suddenly you saw that the kids were no longer a problem nor your mother-in-law. Christ does this little by little and at times it is not noticeable. The Lord is the one who does the work, and he does it not because you are good or deserving. It is just the opposite; he does it because you need it.
Perhaps you may not have had an experience of the resurrection these days. Even if that is so, just to hear this announcement can also give you power over the thing that destroys you. Christ has this power because he overcame something much more difficult than your enemy; he overcame death itself. We have a saying that everything in life has a solution except death and now we can say that even death has an answer in Christ.
So, if you are behind closed doors out of fear of the Jews or of something else. If you are afraid to love, or to forgive, or to die to yourself, which is to love, then listen well to this gospel. To love is to die to ourselves and for most of us we cannot love in this way; we are locked in on ourselves. The good news is that Our Lord returns to the upper room twice; he keeps coming back; he has all the patience in the world. He even sends them the Holy Spirit, but they are still locked up, just like us.
To see the effort the Lord makes gives me a lot of joy. He comes quietly, he doesn’t knock, he enters silently, doesn’t break anything, appears in the middle of them and announces peace. It is not the peace one gets from drinking or from marijuana. It is not a peace that takes away all our problems. It is just the opposite. It is a peace despite our sufferings. In the midst of many difficulties, you can feel loved by God and have a deep peace. This is the peace that only God gives. You can enter a situation of death even though you are closed in on yourself. It happens little by little.
Thomas always gets criticized for his lack of faith. The other ten apostles have seen the Lord’s wounds and they witness this to Thomas. We have seen the Lord, they say. But if you don’t see it, you don’t experience it and you don’t have faith. St. Paul says faith comes from listening to the preaching, but the fullness of faith is to have an encounter with Jesus Christ, with the Risen Lord. And this is what Thomas and many of us are missing.
So, on that first night where was Thomas, why was he not in the upper room? We can only guess that he was in a crisis or was in a bad mood and for some reason he had to leave the community. The same happens to us. At times you and I have left the Church, left the Sacraments and then how can the Lord console you, or help you, or give you peace? If we are separated, how can we have the experience of his love. Thomas left the community, but the Lord has a great deal of patience; he comes back, just for him. On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we can see the mercy God has with Thomas, and with us. We can experience this mercy today in the Eucharist, in the prayers, in the preaching, etc. It was necessary for Thomas to enter Christ’s wounds because he didn’t believe. And we are complimented also by the Lord when he says, blessed are those who have not seen the wounds and have believed!! This is you and me. We did not see them or touch them and yet we believe.
This gospel is truly marvelous. Don’t be critical of Thomas. He is the paradigm of a Christian. To be a disciple of Christ were need to be locked up, full of fear and doubts, half-dead and afraid to love and his experience of mercy changes us. The gold has to be tested by fire, purified, St. Paul says. When a Christian is present there is no hatred, there is no war, there are no divisions, no disordered sexuality, there is love, chastity, peace, joy, martyrdom, love of the enemy. One can die so the other gains life. Our Lord is truly Lord and has risen from the tomb. He has the power to help you. Ask him for it.