A STORY ABOUT FAITH
Every
Second Sunday of Easter each year, we hear the story about Thomas. Of
course, Thomas plays a major role here but the whole Gospel passage is
actually about faith.
The
Risen Lord awakens the faith of the frightened disciples. Then He
invites Thomas to a deeper faith in Him. And at the end, the evangelist
mentions that these stories were written down so that we may have faith.
Thomas
could not believe what his comrades were telling him. He insisted on
empirical evidence. In a way, he was like the modern man today who insists on facts, scientific analysis and proof. We can easily identify with Thomas. We, too, fear reality crashing down around us and we can bear only so much disorientation.
When
the Lord invites him to get the proof he wanted, Thomas decides not to
explain or defend himself, but simply to surrender. He is asked to
believe that his Master is risen, and he rises to the occasion to
confess even more — that his Master is not just Lord, but God. Thomas
had overcome fear, uncertainty and doubt, and had reached the state of
profound faith.
Faith
has this sort of power because it is a supernatural gift. It was the
Spirit Jesus breathed on the disciples that Easter afternoon and
empowered them to believe and become themselves ambassadors of faith.
Without that same Spirit, Thomas was powerless to believe. But once the
breath of the Risen Lord touched him, Thomas experienced the joy of
faith and assumed his God-appointed task to be one of the foundation
stones of the Church.
Lack
of faith brings sadness, while faith is a source of great joy. To have
faith is to have wings that make one soar high above the corruption,
dishonesty and lies in our society and the negative news in the media. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: What makes you doubt? What shakes your faith?
Lord,
often my faith is shaken, and often I doubt. Breathe on me, Lord, Your
powerful Spirit that I may never waver in the face of the uncertainties I
encounter in life.
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