Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
«Light came into the world»
Fr. Damien LIN Yuanheng (Singapore, Singapore)
Today with the myriad of opinions in modern living, it may seem that truth does not exist —truth about God, truth about gender issue, truth about marriage, moral truths, and, ultimately, truth about me.
Today's gospel passage identifies Christ to be «the way, and the truth, and the life» (Jn 14:6). Separate from Christ, there is only desolation, falsehood and death. There is one and only one road to heaven and it is called Jesus Christ.
Christ is not just another opinion. Christ is Truth itself. To deny truth is like someone who insists in closing his eyes from the sun-light. Whether he likes it or not, the sun will always be there; but the poor fellow has freely chosen to close his eyes from the sun of truth. Likewise, many spend themselves in their career with sheer willpower; they claim to fulfill their full potential, forgetting that they could only attain the truth about themselves by walking with Christ.
On the other hand, according to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, «each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:32)» (Encyclical Letter "Caritas in Veritate"). The truth of each one is a calling to be a son or daughter of God in the heavenly home: «For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess 4:3). God wants free daughters and sons, not slaves.
Truly, the perfect “I” is a joint project between God and I. When we strive for holiness, we begin to reflect the truth of God in our lives. The Pope said it beautifully: «Each saint is like a ray of light that shines forth from the Word of God» (Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini").
«God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost»
Fr. Manel VALLS i Serra (Barcelona, Spain)
Today the Gospel proposes to us once more to follow in the footsteps of Thomas the Apostle, that go from doubt to faith. Like Thomas, we approach the Lord full of doubts, but He also comes to meet us: «God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life» (Jn 3:16).
Thomas was not present in the first apparition of Jesus to the apostles, that Easter morning. «A week later» (Jn 20:26), in spite of his refusal to believe, Thomas joins the other disciples. The hint is quite clear: faith is not maintained far from the community. Far from our brothers, our faith does not grow nor ripen. At each Sunday's Eucharist we recognize his Presence. If Thomas was honest enough to show his doubts it was because the Lord did not initially grant him what He did to Mary of Magdala: not only to listen and to see the Lord, but to touch him with her own hands. Christ comes to meet us, mostly when we are together with our brothers and are celebrating with them the partition of the Bread, that is, the Eucharist. It is then when He invites us to “put our fingers in His side”, that is, to penetrate the impenetrable mystery of His life.
The move from incredulity to Faith has its stages. Our conversion to Jesus Christ —our step from darkness into light— is a personal process, but we need the community. These past Easter days, we all have felt the urge to follow Jesus on his way of the Cross. Now, fully in Easter time, the Church invites us to enter the new life with Him, with our works being done in God (cf. Jn 3:21).
Today, we also have to personally feel Jesus' invitation to Thomas: «and be not faithless, but believing» (Jn 20:27). Our life is at stake, as «he that believed on him is not condemned» (Jn 3:18), but goes to the light.