Homily
for the
2d
Sunday of Easter
April
11, 2021
John
20: 19-31
Holy
Name of Jesus, New Rochelle, N.Y.
“Unless I see the mark of the nails …, I will not believe” (John 20: 25).
Most of us have a little bit of Thomas in us, Thomas whom we often call “doubting Thomas.” Penitents will often tell a priest, “I have doubts”—about the faith, about the Church, about the afterlife, about God.
An honest
doubt is no sin. Thomas sincerely
doubted the resurrection, which made him the same as the other 10 apostles, the
holy women who went to the tomb, and the rest of the disciples. Only seeing their Lord, risen and very much
alive, touching him, eating with him—only that brought them around to belief
that he is truly risen. It was something
unheard of, something beyond imagining, even tho Jesus had foretold it. Who could blame them, or Thomas?
Thomas isn’t
completely faithless. After all, he’s
still lingering in Jerusalem instead of going home to Galilee. He’s still in touch with his 10 companions
and the others. Why? He probably couldn’t explain why.
When Jesus
appears before him a week after his resurrection, he already knows Thomas’s
mind, and he chides him gently, as he’d done a week earlier with the 2
disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). He’s not upset. He’s understanding.
So when anyone
today has doubts or asks questions about our faith, about the Lord, about
virtue, about right and wrong, about life after death—the Lord must be just as
patient, gentle, and understanding. St.
Anselm in the 11th century gave us a famous definition of theology: fides quaerens intellectum, “faith
seeking understanding.” It’s the nature
of theology to ask questions. It’s the
nature of human beings to ask questions. That’s how we pursue truth, whether it’s
scientific truth, the truth about human beings, truth in a classroom, truth in
an investigation—or, within the limitations of the human mind, truth about God.
Thomas’s doubt
came down to this: Is what my friends
are telling me really true, or are they deluded? Likewise, someone who doubts today wants to
know what’s true: about God, about our
human nature, about our purpose in life and our destiny, about the right path
to God.
It’s essential
only that one’s questions be sincere.
Certainly there are people who conveniently tell themselves what they
want to hear, who make excuses for what they profess to believe or how they
behave. One whose pursuit of truth is
sincere listens to arguments, evaluates evidence, considers his or her own
experience, reckons with the experience and expertise of others; and in the
case of our faith, one considers the wisdom of the Scriptures and what the
Church has believed and taught for 2 millennia.
The Church’s
wisdom is rooted in what we heard in today’s gospel: Jesus bestowed the Holy Spirit upon his
disciples. Explicitly, he authorized
them thru his Spirit to forgive sins; but also to “retain sins,” to withhold
forgiveness. Judgment of cases and persons
is implied—judgment based on the gift of wisdom from the Spirit. If the disciples collectively—the Church—have
this gift, then we ought to test our doubts before the wisdom of the Church and
ask whether there’s light to be found in that wisdom.
Jesus
concludes his dialog with Thomas by blessing those who believe without having
seen him, without having probed his wounded hands and side. Obviously, we haven’t seen him or examined
his wounds. We haven’t personally sat at
his feet listening to his teaching or witnessed his miracles. So our faith rests on the testimony of those
who did—Thomas, Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, and the others, who asked
questions and needed convincing before they became men and women of conviction;
who have passed on to us what they experienced, the truth they encountered in
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, so “that thru this belief we may eternal life in
his name” (cf. John 20:31).
May your faith
be deepened by your pursuit of the truth.
May you find in Jesus “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) for
which we’ve all been created.
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