Second Sunday of Easter, cycle A (Mercy Sunday)

JOHN 20:19-31
I HAVE A SOFT SPOT IN MY HEART FOR THOMAS. I ALWAYS HAVE, AND WHEN I HAD TO SELECT A NEW NAME FOR MY CONFIRMATION WHEN I WAS IN SEVENTH GRADE, I CHOSE THOMAS. OF COURSE I WAS THINKING OF THOMAS AQUINAS AS WELL, BUT I FIGURED TWO THOMAS' FOR THE PRICE OF ONE COULDN'T BE ALL BAD.
WE DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THOMAS. HE SPEAKS FOUR TIMES IN THE SCRIPTURES. WHEN JESUS TELLS HIS APOSTLES THAT HE IS GOING TO GO TO JUDEA TO HEAL LAZARUS, THEY ALL GET UPSET, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT JESUS IS A WANTED MAN IN JUDEA. BUT THOMAS FINALLY SAYS, “LET US GO AND DIE WITH HIM.” AT THE LAST SUPPER, JESUS TELLS HIS APOSTLES “WHERE I AM GOING, YOU KNOW” AND THOMAS SAYS, “NO WE DON'T, TELL US WHERE YOU ARE GOING?” WE HEAR THE OTHER TWO INSTANCES IN THIS GOSPEL: “UNLESS I PUT MY FINGERS IN THE HOLES IN HIS HANDS, AND MY HAND IN HIS SIDE, I WILL NOT BELIEVE!” AND FINALLY, “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”
AFTER PENTECOST, WE ARE PRETTY SURE THAT THOMAS TRAVELED TO JEWISH SETTLEMENTS ON THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, AND ULTIMATELY GOT TO INDIA. INFORMATION FROM THE SECOND CENTURY DESCRIBES HOW THOMAS MET AN INDIAN RULER AND CONVERTED HIM AND HIS PEOPLE. THOMAS WAS A CARPENTER, AND LEGEND HAS IT THAT HE BUILT SEVEN CHURCHES. FINALLY ANOTHER RULER WHO KEPT HIS PEOPLE IN ABJECT POVERTY, ASKED HIM TO COME AND BUILD A CHURCH IN HIS TERRITORY. THOMAS TOOK THE MONEY AND USED IT FOR THE POOR AND ULTIMATELY THIS LEAD TO HIS MARTYRDOM. THERE ARE STILL CHRISTIANS IN INDIA WHO WERE THERE AT LEAST SINCE THE THIRD CENTURY, WHO INSIST THAT THEIR CHURCH WAS FOUNDED BY THOMAS; AND UP UNTIL THE 15TH CENTURY, THERE WERE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ARABIAN SEA WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN FOUNDED BY THOMAS. PAUL GOT A LOT OF PRESS BECAUSE OF ALL THE LETTERS THAT HE WROTE, AND ALL THE TERRITORY THAT HE WENT TO IN MISSION; BUT THOMAS SEEMS TO HAVE RIVALED PAUL IN TERMS OF HIS TRAVELS AND HIS FOUNDING OF CHURCHES.
SO THOMAS IS NO SLOUCH, THOMAS LIVED A LIFE OF HEROIC FAITH. AND I THINK I KNOW WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH THOMAS' MIND WHEN HE TOLD THE OTHER APOSTLES THAT HE WOULD NOT BELIEVE UNLESS.... THOMAS KNEW THAT IF THE RESURRECTION REALLY HAPPENED, IT WOULD MEAN THAT HIS ENTIRE LIFE HAD TO CHANGE. THOMAS WOULD NOT JUST BELIEVE SOMETHING; HE KNEW THAT REAL BELIEF HAD CONSEQUENCES, AND BEFORE HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR SOMETHING, HE NEEDED TO BE SURE THAT THE SOMETHING WAS WORTHY OF THAT GIFT. I DOUBT THE OTHER APOSTLES HAD GIVEN AS MUCH THOUGHT TO THIS AS THOMAS – CERTAINLY IN THE EXAMPLES IN WHICH HE SPOKE BEFORE THE RESURRECTION, HE DOES THINK THINGS THROUGH, AND HE DOES ASK QUESTIONS WHEN HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND. ADMIRABLE TRAITS.
I DON'T THINK JESUS IS PUTTING THOMAS DOWN. AFTER ALL, ALL THE FIRST CHRISTIANS HAD WITNESSED THE RESURRECTED CHRIST, EVEN HIS MOTHER. PAUL TELLS US THAT ABOUT 500 PEOPLE HAD SEEN THE RISEN CHRIST. JESUS JUMP-STARTED HIS CHURCH WITH THOSE APPEARANCES. BUT AFTER THAT, AFTER HE ASCENDS INTO HEAVEN, HE LEAVES HIS CHURCH WITH THE GIFT OF FAITH, AND THAT IS THE REFERENCE TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN, BUT HAVE BELIEVED. WE ARE THE BLESSED ONES.
BUT I THINK JESUS MEANS BELIEF IN THE SAME WAY THAT THOMAS DID. IF YOU BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION, THEN YOUR LIFE BETTER CHANGE, YOU BETTER LIVE LIKE JESUS IS YOUR LORD AND YOUR GOD. AND MOST OF US, ESPECIALLY MYSELF, HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO.
THIS IS MERCY SUNDAY. SAINT FAUSTINA SAID THAT GOD'S GREATEST ATTRIBUTE IS HIS UNFATHOMABLE MERCY.
HERE IN THIS GOSPEL JESUS SHOWS THAT MERCY, WHEN HE COMES TO THE APOSTLES, FRIGHTENED AND HIDING IN THE THE ROOM, THE APOSTLES WHO DESERTED HIM AND LEFT HIM TO DIE ON THE CROSS, THE LEADER OF THE APOSTLES WHO LIED ABOUT KNOWING WHO HE WAS, AND THERE IS NO WORD ABOUT THAT, JUST JESUS GIVING THEM HIS PEACE. JESUS SHOWS HIS MERCY WHEN HE GIVES THE APOSTLES THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS. GOD'S MERCY IS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE COMMUNITY OF HIS FOLLOWERS. JESUS SHOWS THAT MERCY WHEN HE APPEARS TO THOMAS, AND MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR THOMAS TO BELIEVE. HAD THAT SECOND APPEARANCE BEEN TO SCOLD THOMAS, I DOUBT THAT HE WOULD HAVE OFFERED TO FULFILL THOMAS' STATED CONDITIONS. AND JESUS CONTINUES TO SHOW HIS FATHER'S MERCY TO YOU AND I, WHO HAVE THE GIFT OF FAITH, GIVEN AT BAPTISM, REINFORCED AT CONFIRMATION, AND STRENGTHENED THROUGH THE HOLY EUCHARIST THAT IS OUR FOOD AND DRINK, AND THROUGH THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, THAT FORGIVES OUR TRANSGRESSIONS AND GIVES US STRENGTH TO OVERCOME WHAT HOLDS US DOWN. AND WE BELIEVE, AND UNFORTUNATELY FOR MANY OF US THAT'S WHERE IT STOPS. OUR BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION IS FILED BACK THERE WITH OUR BELIEF IN GLOBAL WARMING OR IN THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION OR THAT TWO AND TWO IS FOUR. FOR MANY OF US, THE RESURRECTION HASN'T CHANGED OUR LIVES TO THE EXTENT THAT IT SHOULD. BECAUSE OF THIS, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I DEFINITELY NEED ALL THE MERCY I CAN GET.
SO TODAY LET US PRAY FOR MERCY, THANK GOD FOR HIS MERCY, AND ASK SAINT THOMAS TO HELP US LIVE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION SO THAT WE CAN SAY WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, MY LORD AND MY GOD.