Reflection for the Vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter 2008
Evelyn Gregory, OSB

It was evening, the Day of the Resurrection. The disciples gathered in the house and locked the door because they were afraid. Their leader, Jesus, had been killed!

If only we had stayed with him!
If we had not been afraid!
If we had just believed!
He really is the Son of God!
I wish he were back with us!
What should we do?

And all of a sudden there was Jesus, standing in their midst, and showing the disciples his hands and his side.--And Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you’. Thomas was absent–perhaps grieving in solitude. A week later, Jesus, who knew Thomas’ quiet temperament and way of mourning, came to the same house where the disciples were gathered again behind closed doors -- and Thomas was also present. Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Thomas saw for himself. Then Jesus invited him to ‘Put your finger here and see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it in my side.’ With deep faith Thomas exclaimed, ‘My Lord and my God.’

Thomas believed because he had seen. This was Thomas’ memorable moment when he first really knew he was in the presence of the Messiah–the one who had risen from the dead! ‘My Lord and My God’.
Thomas would always remember! ‘Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.’

How does Jesus touch each of us?
How do we know Him?
We, too, can all remember!

Some of my earliest memories of getting to know Jesus include when we were taught our night prayer and we asked God to ‘bless everyone in the whole world and make them all good to their life’s end’. Also when my mother assured us that ‘everything would be alright’. And again when our dad taught us to notice the beauty of nature as we sat in the front yard on a summer’s evening’. And when our Irish Grandmother said that ‘the Lord had his arms around me’.

During this Octave of Easter, the Benedictus Antiphons have shown the various ways in which Jesus confirmed the faith of his disciples:
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and heard Him call her name; the disciples with hearts burning, knew Jesus in the breaking of the bread; the disciples, having been called to a breakfast of bread and fish, knew Jesus in the invitation.

We each come to our faith in different ways–some by seeing or hearing their name, others by touching, still others who ‘have not seen and yet have believed’. ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.’

We are familiar with the quote attributed to the German theologian, Karl Rahner, ‘The time is fast approaching when one will either be a mystic or an unbeliever.’

Henri Nouwen would remind us, ‘The simple fact of being one hour in the presence of the Lord and of showing him all that I feel, think, sense, and experience, without trying to hide anything, must please God. Somehow, somewhere, I know that God loves me, even though I do not feel that love as I can feel a human embrace, even though I do not hear a voice as I hear human words of consolation, even though I cannot see a smile, as I can see in a human face.’ Still it would seem that making a personal act of faith as Thomas did, ‘My Lord and my God,’ directs us on the way toward being a mystic.

‘What do we do during the times when,’ as Nouwen puts it, ‘we are too tired to read the Gospels, too restless to have spiritual thoughts, too depressed to find words for God, or too exhausted to do anything?’ It is in those moments that we long to hear God’s word and feel God’s touch.

‘Peace be with you, Jesus proclaims today also, as the Father sent me, so I also send you.’ Then he breathed on them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’

Prayer begins with the movement of the Spirit within us. The transfigured Christ gives us the breath of the Spirit, inviting us to constant awareness of God’s loving and active presence, and unlocking the doors of our unfreedoms Deep prayer brings the unhealed dark places within us into the light of Christ’s love.

Being immersed in our Benedictine tradition of Liturgy of the Hours, the Eucharist, and Lectio brings us to contemplation, each in our own particular journey, making us mystics, and guiding us to the holy mountain. Having been practiced from the earliest monastic traditions, our mindfulness is nourished.

Perhaps our Gospel writer, John, now remembers:
John believed when ‘he saw the linen wrappings lying there’ in the empty tomb;
John went in,
and John saw
and John believed..
Perhaps now he could better understood Thomas who wanted to be certain, who doubted in order to be sure, who wanted to be totally convinced.
( “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”)

We each have our unique faith journey of dying and rising, receiving new life and spirit. Transformed through the Paschal Mystery, we, too, come to know Jesus, our hearts burning within us. Christ set this pattern for our lives, leading us from death to Resurrection.

The first reading from Paul’s letter to the people of Corinth, was written about twenty-five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and many of Paul’s hearers who saw the Risen Christ were still alive. It is fitting then, that here Paul would emphasize the importance of belief in the resurrection.

Where have we seen the Risen Jesus today?
How have we heard His voice?
In what ways have we been touched?
When have we recognized Him in the breaking of the bread.

Christ, the Risen Lord, abides with us today, leading us all to newness of life and hope.

Our Paschal Journey will be completed when we truly know the Lord.

© 2008 Benedictine Sisters
Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, Kansas