“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

The Easter readings are truly amazing.  I never tire of praying with them.  I love to place myself in the story as various characters and let God use my imagination to show me how I might have reacted or help me to understand why the people reacted as they did.  The “Doubting Thomas” Gospel is one that hits home for many of us. Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to his disciples and when they told him what happened, he simply said, “Unless I see and touch Jesus’ wounds, I will not believe.”  These were his friends, people he journeyed with for three years, people that he trusted and yet when they told him what happened he flat-out refused to believe it. Did he think they were lying? Did he think they were ALL crazy? Did he not trust their judgment, thinking they had ALL been fooled or mistaken? Why would he not have believed those closest to him?

There have probably been times in our lives when we were Thomas and someone was telling us about Jesus, about faith, or about something that happened, and we refused to believe it. We were not there, we did not experience it, therefore it must not be true. It was impossible. There have probably been times when we were the other disciples.  We were trying to tell our family, friends, or coworkers about our Faith, and we were met with disbelief. It’s as though they think us fools, lying or just mistaken. How hurtful and disappointing it is when you have the greatest news of all times, Jesus’ resurrection, and you want to share it with those you love the most, and they do not believe you.

“Jesus, I trust in you.” This weekend is Divine Mercy Sunday.  We are reminded to put our faith and trust in Jesus’ love and mercy. I pray that even when dealing with “doubting Thomas’” in our own lives, we can have that trust and faith that the disciples had. I pray that we will continue to proclaim the impossible truth that “Jesus is Christ, the Son of God and that through this believe you may have life in his name”.