Reflection:        

Are you going through darkness and storms in your life? Do you sometimes doubt His promises to you in His word?

Our gospel today abounds with awe-inspiring themes:  forgiveness, reparation, locked doors, struggle with fears, and the “doubting Thomas”.  What it teaches us is that our contact with the Risen Lord is through faith.  Faith is not just belief in Jesus, but trust in Him as well.  To be able to see Christ is to open our eyes to the thrilling, dynamic, invisible but real presence of the Risen Lord in us and in our lives.

When Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples for the first time after His resurrection, His first words to them were “Peace be with you.”  It reflects His sensitivity to their fears and doubts.  Peace was what the disciples most needed at that time and the Risen Lord gave them ‘peace’ as a gift.

Having left their families and livelihood to follow the Lord, they now find themselves left high and dry, fearful of losing their very lives, their hopes and dreams shattered.  They were afraid that, like their Master they too would meet with a cruel fate. There was not only darkness in their lives but also storm in their hearts; their minds mired in confusion and agitation. It is at this point in their deepest darkest moment and misery that Jesus comes to comfort them.  They needed peace. Christ gave them peace, not as the world offers it, but the peace that comes with His presence, a Christ-centered, lasting, deep and abiding peace.  It means wholeness and prosperity in the widest sense, especially in the spiritual sense of a flourishing soul.  Lasting, because it is not dependent on conditions and circumstances that sorrow, danger, or suffering can take away.

The gospel reading is not primarily about Thomas and his doubts.  It is foremost about us and our faith. The reaction of Thomas reveals a person more inclined by nature to doubt than to believe.  In spite of what others have told him, Thomas refused to be swayed.  But when Jesus appears to his disciples a second time in the presence of Thomas, Thomas’ doubts disappears.  He not only recognizes the reality that Jesus is alive, but proclaims Him as his Lord and God.  It is almost as if the depth of Thomas’s doubt has become the measure of His faith.

There are modern ‘Thomases’ around us — even within our own hearts – for we too are full of questions.  This Thomas incident calls us to enter into a deeper relationship with the Risen Christ as we move beyond the pursuit of vision to the inward experience of His grace.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” – we cannot help but feel personally addressed – with all our doubts, questions and fears.  Thus Jesus speaks to those who do not believe, to those who strive to believe, and to those who are struggling in faith.  For here, Jesus is clearly referring to us, His disciples of two thousand years into the future.  We were present in His mind’s eye at that distant time.  He could see us in anticipation; He already knew and loved us.  And seeing our faith in Him – our intelligent, critical, but eventually wholehearted and unreserved faith in Him, He called us blessed.  And we are blessed indeed, if we realize what treasure we possess in our Christian faith.  For by faith, Christ is present in our hearts.  And that presence fills our lives with hope, peace and happiness.

Because this gospel was not written for the Apostles but for us, the promise of the Risen Jesus is that through faith we too shall experience the same saving relationship with Him that His Apostles did.  This Sunday is a chance for us to look beyond Easter to embrace a more profound Easter faith, a deep trust in Jesus. Trust in the places where He always is – in our hearts, in His church, in His sacraments, in His presence in the BLD Community, in His community teachings and our word sharing circles.

Let us pray for those who honestly seek the Lord, but fail to find Him, and that we too, may find the Lord in our personal quests and struggles.  May He grant all of us His unconditional and absolute peace.  Where there is peace, there God is!

Reflection Questions:
1.    Reflect on those times when your faith in God was shaken.  Why do you think that you waivered in your faith?
How were you able to restore your belief that Jesus will fulfill the promises in your life?

2.    Reflect on how your faith can be strengthened and sustained.

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:

April 7, 2013 (Sun)      Acts 5:12-16/Ps 118:2-4,13-15,22-24/Rv 1:9-13,17-19/Jn 20:19-31
April 8, 2013 (Mon)     Is 7:10-14,8:10/Ps 40:7-11/Heb 10:4-10/Lk 1:26-38
April 9, 2013 (Tues)    Acts 4:32-37/Ps 93:1,2,5/Jn 3:7-15
April 10, 2013 (Wed)   Acts 5:17-26/Ps 34:2-9/Jn 3:16-21
April 11, 2013 (Thur)   Acts 5:27-33/Ps 34:2,9,17-20/Jn 3:31-36
April 12, 2013 (Fri)      Acts 5:34-42/Ps 27:1,4,13,14/Jn 6:1-15
April 13, 2013 (Sat)    Acts 6:1-7/Ps 33:1,2,4,5,18,19/Jn 6:16-21

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  Read your Bible daily!”

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