Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
25 April 2025
'My Lord and My God!' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Year C
GospelJohn 20:19-31 (English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
On the evening of that day, the first day of the
week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he
had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were
glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this,
he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive
the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any,
it is withheld.’
Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was
not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen
the Lord’. But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the
nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into
his side, I will never believe.’
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again,
and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your
finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet have believed.’
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of
the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in his name.
It is true that Jesus says to St Thomas in today's Gospel, Do not disbelieve, but believe. But for many years I have thought that scholars and others have been unfair to this apostle. The expression 'Doubting Thomas' has come down to us in the English language to describe someone who is sceptical, who doesn't believe unless he sees.
That would describe Thomas at one level. But he said, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. He had the insight that if Jesus was truly risen he would carry the scars of his crucifixion. He seemed to grasp the extent of the sufferings of Jesus to redeem us sinners. And when he meets the Risen Lord eight days later he makes the most explicit act of faith in the whole Bible: My Lord and my God!
I learned this prayer when I was very young and it is part of the fibre of the Catholic faith here in Ireland. When the Mass promulgated in 1969 by Pope St Paul VI came out it introduced something new: the Acclamation after the Consecration. When the priest says The Mystery of Faith the people answer by singing or saying one of four acclamations. However, here in Ireland we have a fifth, the Act of Faith of St Thomas in today's Gospel: My Lord and my God! This is the one I always ask the people to use now when celebrating a public Mass, unless the choir has prepared one of the others acclamations. (The priest doesn't sing or say the acclamation as it belongs to the congregation / choir.)
When I was growing up the Mass was what's known now as the Traditional Latin Mass or 'TLM'. There were no official acclamations after the Consecration then but there was for me a very powerful unofficial one here in Ireland: the 'communal cough'. People literally held their breaths during the Consecration because they truly believed that through the power of the Holy Spirit acting through the priest the bread and wine became the Body and Blood of Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity as we learned in kindergarten. After the elevation of the Precious Blood everyone coughed, letting out the tension of their awe-filled faith during the Consecration. This 'communal cough' was full, active participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and a deep expression of the faith of the whole community. The priest and people were fully united in worshipping God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In a meditation on the Easter Vigil published in Magnificat and also on Aleteiaon Thursday, English mystic Caryll Houselander (1901 - 1954) captured for me something of this awe, of the faith that people had in the reality of the bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ during the Mass. Here is the last part of her meditation. (Emphases are mine).
Once again bread and wine and water are brought into the sanctuary, and a Host is consecrated. At the elevation a peal of little bells rings out. It is not only worship of the soul, but the soul expressed through the body. The priest prostrates himself, beats his breast, lifts his arms up to heaven, makes the sign of the cross, speaks the mysterious words: 'This is my Body.' The congregation joins in this worship, and it is expressed by the body of each one: they know that when the words of consecration are spoken, the Word made flesh is there for each one of them; the same glory pours into the difficult worship of the old rheumatic woman at the back of the church as into the priest who is lifting up God in his hands. The glory of the Incarnation is equally in the aching of the old woman’s bones and the young priest’s ecstasy. The glory is not confined to the church where the Mass is offered: it extends in ring upon ring of light and circles the world.
St Thomas saw the glory of the Incarnation in the scars on the hands, feet and side of the Risen Lord. And his Act of Faith extends in ring upon ring of light and circles the world.
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