Friends,
Today, let us join Thomas in hailing Christ as our Lord and God. We, too, ask to be filled with the joy and peace of the disciples in seeing the risen Lord.
The first reading tells how effectively the lives of the first Christians are encouraged and transformed by their Spirit-filled faith. Their devout, generous sense of community inspires all who meet them.
Today’s Psalm is considered ‘the’ Easter psalm above all others. All Christians are invited to give thanks and praise to the Lord. Peter, an eyewitness to the events of Easter, praises and encourages the faith of the new converts, even though they have never seen Jesus. Although they are persecuted and plagued by trials because of their new-found faith in Christ, they still love him deeply and are filled with glorious joy.
The Gospel recounts the events of the first Sunday after Easter Day. Thomas is absent when the risen Lord appears to the other frightened disciples, offering them the resurrection gift of the Spirit of peace. But a week later, Jesus seeks out the doubting Thomas personally: an encounter that enables Thomas to proclaim Jesus as ‘My Lord and my God!’.
This week, we pray for a deepening personal relationship with the risen Lord that can change our lives … and an openness that inspires us to take our active, living faith into our suffering world.
Joy and peace.
