Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and he stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Lord.
But he said to them, unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks, put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Now, a week later, his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and bring your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving, but believe.
Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.
Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name, the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
There are certain passages of scripture I think, that we all can remember having heard our entire lives. They're ones that stick with us.
And this particular gospel, the one that's often referred to as the story of doubting Thomas, at least for me, and perhaps for you, is one of those that stick out that I always remember.
And from the earliest days, I remember that there was a part of it that I thought was pretty special for me.
And that is where Jesus said, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
And I've always felt I was getting A little pat on the back. Did you ever feel that way about that?
Well, we missed the point.
We missed the point because the one I at least should identify with the most, and perhaps you as well, is Thomas.
Because anytime in your life, if you have ever said these words, lord, if you get me through this, I will.
And then you can fill in the blank.
You're just like Thomas.
If you've ever had any situation where you have put Christ's presence to the test regarding any moment or any struggle you've had, you're just like Thomas.
We're all just like Thomas.
But here's where the good news comes into the picture.
It is people just like Thomas, just like you, just like me.
That Jesus came into the world for he was under no illusion that we were going to get it, that we were going to be perfect, that we were going to always be strong in our faith and pious in our practice. He knew better than that.
He knew that our faith could be weak at times. He knew that our sins tend to repeat themselves.
He knew that we are far from perfect.
And he came for us.
That love isn't limited to the holiest people. It's not limited to the perfect people.
It's there for you and I.
And the glory of the empty tomb that we celebrate these 50 days is meant to remind us of that.
That he loves us in the midst of our imperfection and our brokenness.
Now, that doesn't mean we get stuck there. That doesn't mean we say, all right, I don't have to do anything about it. I can just be the same slob I've been my entire life. No, that's not what it means.
But it does mean we don't have to claw and scrape to receive his love. We've already got it.
And instead, our response of gratitude might be to be that person we're called upon to be, to be that person of love and generosity and mercy.
