John 20: 19-29
On the evening
of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors
locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and
said,
“Peace be with you!”
And while he said this, he showed them his hands
and his side.
Full of joy the disciples
recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, so I am sending you.”
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy
Spirit through
which the world will receive healing. From now on you shall work in human destinies
with spiritual power, so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves
free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of
their offences.”
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not there with them
when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and
do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in
his side, I cannot believe it.”
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room
and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in
their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and
stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but
rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”
Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God
whom I serve.”
And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you
have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when
their eye does not yet see me.”
2nd
Easter Sunday
April
15, 2007
John
20:19-29
A
child of two or three is absorbed with learning about the sense world,
exploring and naming things. But around four, there comes a moment when the
child will close its eyes and say, ‘I can see pictures’. An inner eye opens,
and the faculty of picture-making, of imagination, day-dreaming, and
ultimately of memory is born. Some children can then also image real beings
that cannot be seen with outer eyes.
The
disciples of Christ spent three years with Him, getting to know him in the
sense world. They learned to name Him. After the great panorama of His tragic
death, He was lost to their ordinary sight. But their love for Him had readied
them to see Him with the imaging faculty of their hearts. He comes to them, and
they see Him with the eye of the heart.
In
His coming, He gives them a task: He breathes into them holy, healing Spirit,
in order that they may work in a strengthening, healing way in the destinies of
those whom they meet. Their hearts are to be open, filled with trust in His
power, so that they may also see Him at work in the lives of others. They begin
to trust in His power working in their hearts, in others, as a new capacity of
seeing.
Poet
Denise Levertov describes this moment of awakening in her poem about St.
Thomas, who says:
But
when my hand
Led
by His hand’s firm clasp
Entered
the unhealed wound,
My
fingers encountering
Rib-bone
and pulsing heat,
What
I felt was…
…light,
light streaming
Into
me, over me, filling the room…
I
witnessed
all
things quicken to color, to form,
My
question
Not
answered, but given
Its
part
In
a vast unfolding design lit
By
a risen sun.[1]
The
Act of Consecration of Man is also a picture of Christ’s working. Gathered in
prayer, we receive Him in the inner room of our heart. We see Him offering
thanks to His Father. We see Him uniting His soul with bread, with water and
wine. We feel His touch. He breathes His peace into us so that we too can work
in a healing way in the lives of others, ‘in a vast unfolding design, lit by a
risen sun’
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