The Second Sunday of Easter ("Divine Mercy" Sunday)
April 7, 2013

     We should be grateful that Easter lasts fifty days, not just one, because, when it comes to faith and its flowering, most of us need time.  The apostle Thomas certainly did.  That’s clear from today’s gospel.  Thomas needed time, and he also needed to touch.

     I find it altogether comforting and reassuring that one of the most dazzling acts of faith in all the gospels -- Thomas’ “My Lord and my God!”  -- came from the same man who made one of the most stubborn statements of doubt: “I will never believe unless I touch the nail prints in his hands and put my hand into his side.”

     Doubting Thomas gives hope to everyone who has ever doubted.  He gives hope to the likes of you and me.  Maybe it’s no accident that the name Thomas means “twin.”  Thomas is the twin of every one who has ever had to struggle to believe – and who of us hasn’t!

     So, my friends, we are in good company!  And our act of faith is even more remarkable than Thomas’ act of faith because we don’t get to touch the risen Lord as he did.  We do touch him, of course, but only by faith.  We touch him when we hear his word in the gospel; we touch him when we meet him in “the least of our brothers and sisters,” and we touch him every time we celebrate the sacraments, including this and every Eucharist.

     Jesus says, “Blessed are those have not seen yet have believed.” On that basis, a good case could be made for saying that we are more blessed than Thomas!

     Father Michael G. Ryan