St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

The story of Doubting Thomas is always read on the second Sunday of Easter. This is the day (the first day of the week) Jesus appeared again to the apostles and Thomas. Thomas was absent the first time when Jesus breathed his gift of peace upon them and stubbornly refused to believe their testimony. He wants to see and touch Jesus for himself! He wants to touch Jesus’ wounded body before he believes! The story focuses our attention on what happens when Thomas’s desire is answered! He asked for the impossible and was granted it! He abandons his doubt and proclaims Jesus as his Lord and God! The same invitation is offered to us today: Do not be faithless but believing. How will we respond? Just as Jesus recognised Thomas in all his doubt and need, he recognises us as we too stand in need of his understanding and mercy. Will we recognise Jesus just as he recognises us? Will we, like Thomas, open ourselves to the gifts of the Risen Lord—peace, joy, the Spirit and forgiveness? Will we remember that the Risen One is the Crucified One? Will we remember that the Risen One is real? Are we open to becoming a new creation in the Risen Lord?

Alleluia! Jesus is risen! His tomb is empty! “Death has no more power over Him.”(Rm 6:9). Alleluia!

Because we’ve been baptized into Christ, we have died with him. “If we have been united with Him though likeness to His death, so shall we be through alike resurrection” (Rm 6:5). This very day we have already “been raised up” with Jesus to share in His glorious, heavenly, risen life (Col 3:1).

For many in the United States, the joy of Easter mean returning to the things we gave up for Lent. It’s back to chocolate, sweets, soft drinks, ice cream, etc. Yes, we do have to “celebrate and rejoice” on Easter (Lk 15:32), and these treats help us to celebrate, but if we find our joy simply returning to the old life we lived before Lent, we will have missed Easter.

Jesus is the reason for the season. He is risen! We are invited to a risen life with Him that is so new, powerful, and exciting that we can’t sufficiently celebrate it with the “old yeast,” that is, our old joys and old lifestyle (1 Cor 5:7). Let us “be intent on thing above rather than on things of earth” (Col 3:2). Let’s celebrate the fifty-day Easter season by immersing ourselves in God’s Word, which is sweeter than the tastiest candy (PS 119:103), and in the Eucharist, the “bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8).

“When they came to Skull Place, as it was called, they crucified Him there and the criminals as well, one on His right and the other on His left.” ––Luke 23:33

“One of the criminals hanging in crucifixion blasphemed [Jesus]: ‘Aren’t You the Messiah? Then save Yourself and us.’ But the other one rebuked him: ‘Have you no fear of God, seeing you are under the same sentence?’ ” (Lk 23:39-40) Today’s Gospel passage from St. Luke confirms that every action has a consequence. Are we living for the world like the bad thief? Or do we have the eternal perspective of the good thief?

Set in the context of a conversation with some Gentile people who wanted to meet Jesus, today’s gospel focuses our attention on two themes. First, a grain of wheat must die if it is to bring forth fruit. Second, only by being lifted up will Jesus draw all to himself. Can you see the implications? The cross lies hidden at the heart of today’s gospel. So does the Father’s infinite love. The cross means that the gates of divine mercy have been thrown open to the whole world, not just to the chosen people. Here is Jeremiah’s new covenant. Here is the mercy David sought. Here is the making of our High Priest. Here is the Father’s love. The challenge? To open our hearts and lives to God’s loving mercy. We are also invited to join Jesus in his prayer: Father, glorify your name! How can we make that prayer real in our country today?