In these weeks following Easter, the scriptures recount the many appearances of Jesus to his disciples after his death and resurrection. The appearances have no consistency. For example, in some instances the disciples recognise Jesus at once. In others Jesus shouts question to the disciples from the lake shore before reality dawns. In some of the appearances, he walks through closed doors, unhindered by the barriers of our material world. Yet another instances, like in last today's gospel reading, Jesus stresses his physical and human characteristics in his encounter with the doubting Thomas: "Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
The nature of such appearances, and their very variety is saying this: Jesus is now available to us in an infinite variety of ways. He is no longer limited by normal boundaries of time or space. He is present to his people at every point of his universe. He is available to them through that universe. He is present with people, as in the case of Thomas in todays gospel, even when the person or the people themselves are unaware of his presence. In short, God is now present forever through the person of Jesus in the heart of our world.
Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the mission of the Church, and our mission, is to make God present in our world. This is surely wrong, since God's presence in our world predates us, and indeed predates the Church itself. Rather it is the mission of the Church to call mankind's attention to God's presence in the world. The Church does not make God present in the world; it merely points to his presence. Thomas could well be regarded as the patron saint of scientific scepticism. As is the case in our own day, Thomas sets impossible conditions for belief: "Unless I see in his hands the wounds of the nails, and put my finger into the holes they have made, then I refuse to believe." Unless I can see it myself and have irrefutable physical evidence for it, I will not believe. I am not for a moment blaming scientists for this scepticism; nor am I dismissing them as godless infidels. They are simply following the essential rules of their own disciplines. In fact traditional Catholicism has been more obsessed with certainty than science ever was. Many good Catholics regard doubt as the enemy of faith. But doubt can be a true servant of faith, refining it, maturing it and purifying it through honest questioning. In fact it is only through such questioning that we can come to a mature understanding of our faith. The doubting Thomas is a friend, not an enemy.
Whereas scientific data addresses our reason, the rational side of us, faith has a wider scope: it speaks to our imagination. Consequently, we believe that the wounds of Christ are to be seen on every one who suffers or is rejected in any way. Yet, like Thomas, we need someone to highlight those wounds and to reveal the person concealed behind them. It is the function of the Church to reveal to mankind the God who is hidden under so many disguises.
Apart from Thomas, the other great Easter encounter is of course the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. According to that story, the two great pointers to God's abiding presence in our world are, firstly, the scriptures and secondly, 'the breaking of bread' or the Eucharist. Again, the purpose of the Eucharist is not to make God present in the world. It is to remind mankind that God is already present in the world, in our lives. When we come to Church on Sundays to listen to the Scriptures and to break bread together, we are being told: Go back to your homes and seek out the God who is waiting for you there. He lies disguised in your families and in the ordinary events of your everyday life. At the Eucharist, we elevate the ordinary elements of life, the bread and wine, so that you may go back to your homes and see those ordinary things in an elevated light. God is no longer limited by space and time. He is now present forever to successive generations of believers throughout the world. We celebrate that presence at Mass every Sunday. We thank him for his presence with us in the week that has passed. And we ask him to help us recognise his presence in our lives in the week ahead.
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