FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
April 11, 2021
EASTER SUNDAY 2
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
WORD of the DAY
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 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 Twelve, 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 and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20: 19-31)
How shall I live this Word? 
Jesus turns to Thomas whom He Himself had educated to interior freedom, to disagree, to be rigorous and courageous, alive and human. He does not impose Himself, He proposes. Put your finger here and look at my hands; reach out your hand and put it in my side. Jesus respects fatigue and doubts. He respects everyone’s timing and the complexity of believing. He is not scandalized, He proposes Himself again. He teaches us that we need to be formed more to deepening faith than to obedience; more to research than to consent. Jesus shows Himself to Thomas with all His wounds open. He offers two wounded hands where he can rest and regain courage. We thought that the resurrection would cancel the passion, heal the wounds, but it is not possible. They are the story of love written on the body of Jesus with the alphabet of wounds, indelible like love itself.
Jesus, we feel close to Thomas, to his doubts, to his questions: increase our faith and lead us to recognize you as our only God and Lord!
The Voice of Kahlil Gibran, Poet
Faith is knowledge of the heart, it is beyond the power of demonstration.
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Sr. Emilia Di Massimo FMA
