Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe

Readings: Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

We are in the joyous season of Easter and today we are invited to share this joy with the Apostles of Jesus, especially Thomas, who struggled to believe that Jesus is alive. But when he encountered Jesus, he made a strong act of faith statement saying, “My Lord and my God”. It is the first time Jesus is referred to as ‘God’ and Thomas takes that privilege. Jesus responds by saying, “You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe,” and that is us. We are the ones who have not seen Jesus face to face, as Thomas did, but we believe that He is alive. And it is a privilege that we share with the Apostles.

Today the Church celebrates the Divine Mercy Sunday. We celebrate Jesus as ‘Divine Mercy’, who pours His mercy upon us all the time. The several encounters Faustina Kowalska had with risen Jesus, resulted in the growth of the devotion to the Divine Mercy. The mercy Faustina experienced through Jesus, she shared with the world. Happy are we, who believe and strive to experience this mercy in our world today.

If we examine our lives, we can see that, we trust in the testimony of the people around us. When people are convinced of a belief, usually, we tend to agree with them. And it is a good thing. We should be able to appreciate and uphold the belief of other people. On the other hand, we also need to be careful not to blindly believe some things. Our belief needs to be genuine, and we should try to know more about it, which will help us to have an informed conscience. It does not mean we need to look for proof, rather, try to deepen our understanding by asking suitable questions which may enable us to explore more of our faith and appreciate its depth. Thomas, in today’s Gospel, does something similar. Though he sounds as if he is asking for proof, and in his case, he was lucky (!) for Jesus gave him the proof of the resurrection. But, if he had not asked the questions, if he had not sought out the deeper understanding of the resurrection, we wouldn’t have had the act of faith of Thomas. We wouldn’t have heard Jesus being called as ‘God’ in the whole Bible, and we wouldn’t have had Thomas give his life for the faith.

So dear friends, let us be joyful for the privilege of the faith we have received from our ancestors. Let us believe even though we cannot see what Thomas saw. Let us experience the mercy as Faustina experienced and share it with the world around us. May our belief in Jesus continue to help our faith to go deeper in knowledge of Him so that we too can say, “My Lord and my God.”