Friday, April 21, 2017

Saturday within Easter Octave, 22-04-17

Acts 4:13-21 / Mark 16:9-15

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe". That was what the Risen Jesus told St. Thomas when he demanded to see the Risen Jesus with His wounds and even wanted to touch those wounds.

Whether St. Thomas actually went on to put his finger and his hand into the wounds of the Risen Jesus, the gospels did not say.

But if seeing is believing, then the sight of the Risen Jesus would be enough for St. Thomas. There would be no need for him to touch those wounds of Jesus.

In the gospel, we heard that Jesus reproached His disciples for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

And then He said to them, "Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation".

And certainly they did. As we heard in the 1st reading, when told by the Sanhedrin to stop proclaiming the name of Jesus and His resurrection, Peter and John retorted: You must judge whether in God's eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God.

As we listen to the discussions about the Resurrection of Jesus, there are as many affirmations as well as refutations.

Who are we going to listen to. Because who we listen to and what they say will also be what we will proclaim.

The disciples proclaim the Risen Christ because they saw Him. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Let us believe what the gospels tell us about the Resurrection and then we will see Him and then we will go forth to proclaim the Good News.