2^nd Sunday of Easter

Acts 5: 12-16; Psalm 117; Apoc. 1:9-11a; 12-13; 17-19; John 20: 19-31

Read: In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to then: “Peace be with you,” and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filed with joy when they saw the Lord and he said to them again: “Peace be with you. As the father sent me, so am I sending you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

Thomas, called the twin, who was one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said: “We have seen the Lord,” he answered: “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and unless I can put my finger into his side, I refuse to believe.” Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed but Jesus came in and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he spoke to Thomas: “Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.” Thomas replied: “My Lord and my God!” Jesu said to him: “You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Reflect: Peace is a treasure for which we always crave within ourselves, in our family, in our society. Because what sense does life have if we do not live in peace. All that litigation and wars bring with them is a lot of suffering to many people. Presently we are witnessing daily the consequences of war in Ukraine ….. tremendous suffering, innocent persons dying; we have a great desire that peace will reign in the world. However, peace seems to be remote. And sometimes a plea emerges from our heart: Lord, where are you in all this? But it is necessary that we continue to believe: “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Many times we fail to see the Lord in the difficult circumstances of life. Today we are seeing Jesus who, despite his victory over sin and death, in his glorious body he still bears the marks of his suffering and passion that were caused by the evil of mankind …. as a result of envy, greed, arrogance, a craving for power, treachery. The Risen Lord knows full well the consequences of evil of a person on other persons. We need to continue to believe that the Lord is present with those who are suffering. We are unable to understand, to see, this clearly but we need to persist in believing. Happy are those who do not see and yet believe. Let us continue to pray for peace and to do all we can to continue to help those persons who are suffering.

Pray: O most merciful Jesus, you are the Light of the entire world. Receive, in the shelter of Your - all merciful – Heart, the souls of those who, until now, do not believe in You or do not know You. Make the rays of Your graciousness enlighten them, so that they too, together with us, praise the wonders of Your mercy, and do not let them distance themselves from Your most merciful Heart.

Act: If all of us do trust one another a bit more, if we do not base the future on the past, if we do believe that a new beginning is possible for everyone …. peace will not be seen as the luxury we have rendered it to be.