To begin today’s reflection, I’d like to try something a little different. Instead of my asking you a question, I would ask each one of you turn to the person on your right and your left and shake hands with them. If you want to, you can even say “hello!” Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.
Ok. So now you’re asking what does deacon Pat have in mind this time? Why begin a homily like that? Some of you might think I wanted you to shake hands in honor of Earth Day 1990, a day dedicated to reminding us that we must all work together to protect our environment. Although this might be a good way to begin a homily about planet earth, I asked you to shake hands for another reason.
You see, I have a problem. This is the fifth year in a row I’ve been assigned to be the homilist for the Second Sunday of Easter, and the Gospel reading is always the same. I admit Thomas is one of my favorite apostles, but just what can I say that’s new about the Message in this reading?
If you have a good memory for homilies, you might recall my story one year about “trust” and following yellow butterflies at Grand Coteau. Last year, I talked about climbing backwards up a flight of stairs. Of course, I suppose I should realize a lot of people forget the homily by the time Mass ends, so, perhaps, I shouldn’t be too worried about repeating myself. Well, anyway, I wanted to begin today’s reflection using something tangible, and what is more tangible than another person’s hand?
I now have my question for you. It’s one you don’t need to answer out loud. It’s this. What do you remember about the hand you held a moment ago? Was it warm? Cold? Was it soft or callused? Did it belong to someone older or younger? Did you recognize the feel of the hand? Was it the hand of a stranger or of a loved one?
Today’s Gospel is about hands, about pierced hands. The hands of our Lord and our God. Today’s Gospel is, also, about Thomas, about a man who said he would not be able to recognize the hands of his once-dead friend until he, himself, put his finger into the holes in the hands of Jesus. This brings me to the focus for today’s reflection: How do you, each one of you, recognize the hand of Jesus in your life?
I believe that just as there are the five wounds of Christ, there are five words which can lead us to a response to this question about the hands of Christ. These words are: People, Prayer, Practice, Patience and Peace.
First of all: People. In our Gospel reading for today, we heard how the risen Christ appeared to the group of his followers and how when he finally came to Thomas, it was once more when they were gathered as a community. He did not appear to Thomas when the disciple was alone. Jesus comes to us in the company of other people. This is made even more clear in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which says, “The brethren devoted themselves to the Apostles’ instruction and the communal life .. those who believed shared all things in common.”
Thus, one important way to recognize the hand of Jesus in my life is through the presence and action of other people, Christian people, who witness by what they do and say in their normal, everyday life that Jesus Christ has risen and is with them and with me. And by witnessing, I don’t mean they preach to me like some street corner evangelist, but, rather, by their simile, their touch, their acts of kindness and thoughtfulness, they speak to me of Christ, of the presence of the risen Lord who is with me.
Prayer is a second way in which I recognize the hand of Christ in my life. Through communal prayer such as this very liturgy. Again, in our first reading, we heard how “the brethren devoted themselves … to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” In addition to this public prayer there is private prayer when I speak to Jesus and he listens. There are, also, times of prayer when Jesus speaks to me and I listen, and most important, there are those very special times when he and I are present to one another without speaking, when we listen in silence. This is the moment wherein I can truly understand the Psalm which proclaims: “Be still and know that I am God.”
People, Prayer and then Practice. It takes practice to recognize the hand of Christ in my life. It takes practice to see that where I am today and what I am today, is entirely because of him. Many times in my life, Christ has led me in a certain direction without my realizing it at the moment. It’s only when I’ve thought about the event much later that I was able to say with certainty he was there with me.
All of us have had that experience in the major events of our life. We all need, however, to practice this kind of reflection more often. When we practice anything, we are able to do it better and more quickly. We each need to see the hand of Christ in the little events as well as in the big ones. The time between the event in which Christ participates with me and my recognition of his presence needs to be shortened. The only way to do that is through practice, through stopping to reflect just how he is here with me in the every-day happenings of my life.
People, Prayer, Practice and Patience. Even with practice it’s not easy sometimes to recognize the hand of Christ in my life. To see how his hand reaches out to me through other people and through prayer. I want quick answers to my questions, rapid solutions to my problems. I want everything now, on my terms and my schedule. I can’t wait. Perhaps, Thomas was that way too. After Jesus appeared to the other disciples, why did he not come immediately to Thomas? Why did Jesus wait an entire week before he appeared a second time to the gathered community which now included Thomas?
When there is a delay in Christ’s coming to me, I begin to doubt he really hears my call. I become like Thomas. But just as Jesus came on his own schedule to Thomas, he will come to me. Sometimes I can recognize the hand of Christ only after patient expectation.
People, Prayer, Practice and Patience. What is left? Peace. Peace, the most important way in which to recognize the hand of Christ in my life. When Christ comes to me, the ultimate gift he brings is his peace. This peace cannot really be described by one person to another. It can only be experienced. Deep down inside of me, when he is with me, I know it. As someone once said, there comes a time when you know in your “knower” that Jesus is there with you.
This is the peace which Jesus breathed on his friends some two-thousand years ago. This is the peace we wish one another each Sunday when we turn to those around us and take part in the “sign of peace.” When peace enters my being, that is the time when I recognize the hand of Christ has once more touched me. To recognize his presence, I need not put my finger into the hole within his hand, nor my hand into the wound of the lance.
Just as I can feel the touch of a living handshake with a friend or a stranger and realize the difference, I can feel the touch of Christ and know, once more, I have encountered “my Lord and my God”. Through people, prayer, practice and patience, may all of us recognize the hand of Christ and be touched by his peace.
Second Sunday of Easterl April 2, 1990
Acts 2:42-47; 1 Pet 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31