A week ago last night, the Church experienced the pure joy of the Easter mystery: a tiny speck of light far away stirred hope in our hearts; the rumor that our brother who had died, was not held captive by death.  That small glimmer grew during the night into the unrestrained joy of the morning, a joy that has continued throughout this week of Easter and has led us to this day, this day in which the Church rejoices in the Mercy of the Lord.  His Mercy is the reality of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ made personal in each one of our lives.  And the rumor is true: Christ is risen from the dead!  This Messiah in whom we placed our hopes, who seemed to have been destroyed by the hands of men, has cast Satan down from his throne and freed us from our slavery to sin and death.  “O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?”  Death has no more power over us, and our lives are forever changed.  We live no longer in fear, but in joyful and sure hope in the glory of the Lord. 

And yet, today, despite the totally convincing events of last week, we already experience our first shadow of doubt.  The apostle Thomas, still caught up in his grief and his disappointment from the previous Friday, doubted that the Resurrection could be real.  Surely not.  Impossible.  It must be wishful thinking.  If only I could see the marks; if only I could touch his wounds.  We sometimes encounter this kind of doubt ourselves.  How often do we hear from a friend or family member who finds out that we believe that the Resurrection actually happened, and perhaps we even hear it in our own minds at times: If you can’t show me scientific proof; objective, measurable, empirical data, if I don’t put my hand in his side, there’s no reason for me to believe something like that.  There can’t really be any such thing as resurrection from the dead.  It must just be a legend.  And yet, the Faith of the Church, faith that comes to us directly from the apostles, like St. Thomas himself, teaches us that this is real.  St. Thomas’ life was so completely overturned by the reality of the Resurrection that he travelled all the way to India to spread this incredible news, and suffered martyrdom there: Thomas was willing to die rather than deny the Resurrection that he once doubted.  

The Lord came to Thomas to confirm his faith 2000 years ago, and today he comes to us again: here; now; on this sacred altar: the same glorified body that Thomas touched, that strengthened and confirmed his faith even unto death, is the same glorified body that will appear on this altar today, the same body that is present even now in our tabernacle: he comes to strengthen our faith in his Resurrection.  He comes to remain with us all the days of our lives.  After a period of 40 days, Christ ascended to heaven and sits now at the right hand of the Father; he also remains here with us, his Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, in his Word, in his unworthy ministers, and in our gathering together as his community of faith.  So in a mystical way, whenever we are present for Mass, whenever we are in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, whenever we pray: we stand with Jesus, we stand with Jacob’s Ladder who binds together heaven and earth.  We stand with him, as he gives a glimpse of heaven.  We do experience doubt, to be sure.  But this is also an opportunity for the glory of the Resurrection to shine through all the more brightly: as Christ continues to conquer even in the face of these doubts.  The Lord gives us, just like he gave St. Thomas, a special opportunity to proclaim the truth of the Resurrection in the face of the doubts of today’s world, even the doubts deep within our own very selves.  Let our prayer be joined to that of St. Thomas today and always: let us look upon the Lord as he comes to us; let us ask him to increase our Faith so that we can call out to him more and more each day: My Lord and my God.