Touching the wounds that heal

Sunday, May 1, 2011
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)—A

Acts 2:42-47
1Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

It is significant that in today’s Gospel, Jesus appears in the midst of the disciples gathered together on the first day of the week—a Sunday—to bring them peace and the promise of reconciliation in the Holy Spirit. When the apostle Thomas—who was not present at the time—finds the testimony of his companions—“We have seen the Lord”—difficult to believe, he does not mock their account in a spirit of cynicism. Rather, he honestly questions in a spirit of openness and faith. After all, he did come back the following Sunday.

Once again, Jesus appears in their midst, offering peace, and then inviting Thomas personally to touch the sanctifying wounds that crucified him and redeemed the world. Thomas responds by proclaiming, “My Lord and my God!”

What all three readings today offer us is a profound vision of the early Church that has been passed down to us. Together, we gather on the first day of the week, devoted to the teaching of the apostles, fellowship with one another, the Eucharist, and communal worship and prayer around the Word made Flesh.

We come with our wounds and our doubts, but we come nonetheless to proclaim, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus is in our very midst, offering peace and reconciliation in the Holy Spirit, and inviting us to touch the wounds that heal us.

The message is this: We don’t have to be whole and know all the answers to believe. We only need to gather in a spirit of openness and faith, willing to embrace our own and one another’s woundedness within the Body of Christ.

In this way, God, in his great mercy, gives us new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!