Gospel for July 3, 2015 (Friday) Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

Jn 20:24-29

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 nailmarks again put my hand into his side, I will not believe."  Now a week later his disciples were again and inside and Thomas was with them.  Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said,  "Peace be with you."

Then he said to Thomas,  "Put your fingers here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."  Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have blessed."

The Word in other words

Dear Thomas,

Allow me to send you this letter across the centuries because I have some points to clarify and sentiments to express.

You were absent when the Lord appeared to your fellow disciples gathered together behind locked doors on the very day he rose from the dead.  When you came back to the Group and they told you exultantly, "We have seen the Lord!" were you not feeling sorry for having been away from your community just at that glorious moment?  Did you not perhaps come to realize that there is indeed a blessing in being with one's community even (or, especially?) when there is cause for grief?

"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."  That was your (proud?) retort, Thomas.  So for you to see is to believe, right?  But if one sees already, one does not have to believe anymore, right also?  Take  your fellow disciples, for instance.  Their word to you was not,  "We believe in the Risen Lord,"but, "We have seen the Lord!" Is it not so that there in heaven where you are now, there is no need for faith anymore, nor for hope?  Because what you believed in and hoped for you now possess.  Yes, you now enjoy the Beatific Vision!  Truly then what remains is Love, the greatest of the Three.

But really, Thomas, from my vantage point, I find it truly amazing why you were so incredulous of your Rabbi's resurrection, and why this Easter event should have caught all of you in the group by surprise.  My reason?  Simply this: On the least three different occasions Jesus made a rather solemn statement that he would be killed but that on the third day he would rise again.  Were you not listening to him- you his disciples?  His enemies remembered that statement and so they ran to Pilate to get him to station guards at his tomb lest his followers steal his body and make people believe that he, indeed, rose from the dead.  Yes, Jesus' important declaration registered in the minds of his enemies but not in the minds of his friends!  Isn't that truly amazing?

Like the good friend that he was to you, Jesus obliged:  he appeared to your group again a week later, this time with you, Thomas, present.  He utters the same greeting: "Peace be with you!"  And now he confronts you, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving." I wonder, did you still bother to put your finger into the nail marks and your hand into his side?  I suppose not anymore, there was no need for that anymore.  Here is the objective evidence at its purest!  Yes, objective evidence- isn't that the criterion of truth?  The bastion of unbelief that you were should now have really crumbled.  And so , out of the depths of your heart, you cried ou: "My Lord and my God!" I am touched to the core of my being with your heartfelt cry.  I see it as the total surrender of unbelief, of pride, of arrogance on your part.  It was both an act of faith and an act of humility.

Than you, Thomas, for your profession of faith, "My Lord and my God!"  Should I not say also, thank you for bot being so quick to believe?  For you, by that very fact, provided a firmer foundation to our faith in the resurrection, based as it is now not only on the testimony of several who readily believed, but also on the testimony of one who did not readily believe.  Yes, I believe in the resurrection on the word of trustworthy witnesses.  Isn't that what faith is?  As the Risen One told you yourself, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

You know what?  I have made your "My Lord and my God!" my own profession of faith.  Each time I visit the Blessed Sacrament, looking at the tabernacle, I would say, "My Lord and my God!"  At eah elevation of the Sacred Species at Mass I would say, "My Lord and my God!"  On receiving Holy Communion, and believing that the Real Presence is now in my heart, I would say , "My Lord and my God!"

Thank you, my Friend!  I honor you not as the "Doubting Thomas", as you are often referred to, but as the Firm Believer in the Resurrection of the God-man.  Please pray for me!

Gratefully yours,
Dong Alpuerto, SVD

                    -  Fr. Dong Alpuerto, SVD (USC, Talamban, Cebu City)

Gospel for June 12, 2015 (Friday) - Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Jn 19:31-37

Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of the week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down.  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other who was crucified with Jesus.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe.  For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled:  "Not a bone of it will be broken."  And again another passage says: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced".

In Other Words

There are "conspiracy theories" surrounding the death of Jesus on the cross.  Some say He merely fainted, and that later on His body was spirited away to some place where He was revived.  Later, they say He traveled to France to begin a new life there.  And to think that there are people who actually swallow this "theory" as though it were "gospel truth".

The truth is what the Scriptures record: that Jesus did die and He was certified dead, and reported as such to Pontius Pilate.  There was no play acting for Jesus Christ truly died, period.  All this was to fulfill the Scriptures about the death of the Messiah.

It is however the meaning of His death that matters.  For it was sacrificial death: Jesus Christ died so we may have salvation and eternal life in His kingdom.  We, who witness His death through our loving, meditative and prayerful reading of His Passion and Death, should be overwhelmed by the sacrifice of this "Tremendous Lover".  No one who reflects on Christ's passion, death , and resurrection should come away unaffected, unappreciative and untouched by the "greatest love of all".  Yes Christ has dies, Christ is risen; and all of this is for us.  Oh what He did for love, what He did for love...

                                 - Fr. Lino Nicasio SVD (SHP, Kamuning, Q.C.)