As I was in the chapel this morning I was reflecting on the life of St. Thomas the Apostle, whose feast we celebrate today. I thought about Thomas' sin - the fact that he just couldn't believe what all his friends were saying... That the Lord had risen from the tomb! He doubted this truth because his experience told him differently. A week had gone by since the news of His Resurrection, but still, he was the only one left who hasn't seen Him. I once heard a priest give a homily about six years ago where he said that maybe in Thomas' heart, he truly believed that Jesus had risen, but he was just heartbroken because everyone has seen Jesus except him... Thomas might have said, "Jesus was his friend! I loved Him dearly and gave up everything to follow Him... So why hasn't He appeared to me?" This priest continued and said, "I imagine that Thomas may have been more heartbroken rather then drowning in doubt." Anyway, I can only imagine the encounter between he and Jesus, when a week later, Jesus finally appears to him! Jesus stood before him and didn't just say to him, "Look, Thomas, and believe..." but Jesus asked Thomas to do something that none of the other Apostles had the privilege of doing... Jesus invited Thomas to touch him... to actually place his hand inside of his wounds!! Here I believe that we enter into a deep mystery about how it is that we are healed from the bondage of our sins: we have to contemplate His Sacred wounds! And not only contemplate, but we have to touch them, kiss them, and enter into them! But you may ask, "How can I do that? I'm so sinful!" Wasn't Thomas sinful too when he placed his hand inside of Jesus' wounded side? Jesus didn't tell him, "Thomas, go and repent first... Then you can touch Me!" No, this isn't what Jesus did... It was actually by touching Jesus first, that love was enflamed inside of Thomas' heart, and only then he was able to extinguish the flames of doubt! We must remember that love covers a multitude of sins!In my own personal experience, in trying to overcome sins, as well as hearing many people say, "I pray and pray, Father Mitch... I meditate with various images... I try to enter into the simple gaze of the Father... But I just can't overcome this sin... or that addiction!" My question is simply, "What image do you gaze upon? Are you touching Him?" Ya see, for Thomas, it wasn't enough to simply look upon the risen Christ... He had to gaze at His Sacred Wounds... He had to touch Him!! Jesus told him to look upon His wounds which burn more brilliant than the sun and once Thomas gazed upon His wounded Hands and placed his hand into His side, only then was Thomas' sin of doubt destroyed! That's amazing!
After reflecting on this, I began to read Pope Francis' homily for today... and wouldn't ya know, he stole my meditation!! And not only did he steal my meditation, but he expanded upon it in a much more brilliant way then this little priest could do... So I leave you with a few words from our Chief Shepherd (click here to read his whole homily):
"But Jesus tells us that the path to encountering Him is to find His wounds. We find Jesus' wounds in carrying out works of mercy, giving to the body - the body - the soul too, but - I stress the body of your wounded brother, because he is hungry, because he is thirsty, because he is naked, because he is humiliated, because he is enslaved, because he is incarcerated, because he is in hospital. These are the wounds of Jesus today... We need to touch Jesus' wounds, caress Jesus' wounds, bind them with tenderness, we must kiss Jesus' wounds, literally. Just think: what happened to St. Francis when he embraced the leper? The same thing that happened to Thomas: his life was changed. To touch the living God, we do not need to attend a 'refresher course' but to enter into the wounds of Jesus, and to do so, all we need to do is go out onto the street. Let us ask of St. Thomas the grace to grant us the courage to enter into the wounds of Jesus with tenderness and thereby we will certainly have the grace to worship the living God."
