by Fr. Gregory-David Jones, O.S.B.

     Frightened to the point of hiding, the disciples of Jesus locked themselves in a house “for fear of the Jews”.  Then, all of a sudden, the risen Lord appears to them not only with the good news that He conquered death, but that they had been given the power to continue His work of salvation.  Thomas missing out on this momentous occasion, does not believe that it really happened or that it was really the Lord that they had seen.  A second time Jesus appears, this time with Thomas present.  After seeing and touching the Risen Lord, Thomas proclaims the truth that he found so hard to believe, not so much that Jesus rose from the dead, after all he knew that Jesus brought Lazarus back to life:  But Thomas’ proclamation of “My Lord and my God” is much deeper than that!  The passage ends confirming this, “But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” 

     Realizing that Jesus is Lord and God of our lives does not mean that He commands us as if we were robots or slaves, but that He is with and in us, walking with us as a brother, working through us by the power of His grace.  As priests, religious and laity, we have the corporate responsibility of re-presenting Jesus to the world that needs Him so desperately.  The people do need to see, touch and be touched the living Lord, not in the same way that Thomas did, but through us who bear the name “Christian”.  Each of us has a given ministry to fulfill in order for the reality of Christ’s presence to be seen through us.  Jesus is not walking on earth as he did thousands of years ago, but He is alive and active in us as the Church – the Body of Christ!  As we deepen our relationship with Him, we cannot help but become more like Him to the point in which others “may come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that through this (our lives) they may have life in his name”.

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