Sunday Reflection | "My Lord and My God!"

Each year on the Second Sunday of Easter, we hear the gospel according to John which tells us of the appearance of Jesus to his apostles on the day of his resurrection. The apostles rejoice. Then, Jesus does three things for them. He offers them peace, he gives them the commission to be sent out to proclaim the good news as he has been sent by his Heavenly Father, and he confers the Holy Spirit upon them. What a great moment for the apostles, except one! Thomas is missing from the group! Perhaps he is so brokenhearted by the terrible death of Jesus that he has to have some time alone to grieve. In any case, when he returns, he refuses to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. From that moment he is known through history as the ”Doubting Thomas.” The following week, he is with the apostles when Jesus comes to them again, and Thomas has the chance to believe and then proclaims “My Lord and My God”. He is no longer the “doubter”.

The mistake Thomas initially made was withdrawing from the community on that Easter Day, resulting in his missing the coming of Jesus. We miss much when we separate ourselves from the community of the Church which Jesus established. Our celebration of Mass each Sunday is a great source of grace for us when we recognize that Christ established a community when he established the Church. However, the great lesson of the story of Thomas is that with God there is always another chance to return. When this happens, the best in Thomas can come out in us. Our doubts, when overcome, can become a source of great certainty. We can proclaim “MY Lord and My God”. Like Thomas, we can then go on to be evangelizers armed with the strength of the Holy Spirit and the peace that only Jesus can give.