“UNLESS I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put may hand into his side, I will not believe.” These were the famous words of Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles, who we nicknamed “The Doubting Thomas.”
When I appropriate these words to the present, I think of people who are looking for authenticity, truth, and honesty; people who want to see others practice their Christian faith fully, not half-heartedly or contradictory. I think of people who are hungry to see genuine kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, acceptance, freedom, and love.
These people are members of our families – they are our children, our nieces and nephews; they are our friends, our neighbors, and fellow churchgoers; they are the yuppies in our neighborhood, those who hang out in coffee shops on Sundays instead of coming to church. They are the ones who long to see the real Risen Jesus, not only in any nail marks, but also in courageous examples of authentic life.
Matthew Kelly, the author of the best-selling book, Rediscover Catholicism, is exactly right in his contention that “our non-Christian and non-practicing brothers and sisters are sending us a message…Their message is clear, unmistakable, and disarmingly simple…They are saying, whispering, crying out, “Don’t tell me – show me!”
Kelly explains: “Their plea comes from a longing deep within them and represents their great hunger. They don’t want to see another television evangelist, they don’t want to read another book or hear another CD about Christianity, and they don’t want to hear your amazing story of conversion. They want the real thing. They want to witness someone, anyone – just one will do – living an authentic life, someone whose words are supported by the authority or his or her actions. Someone striving humbly but heroically to live by what is good, true, and noble in the midst of – and in spite of – the modern climate.”
Matthew Kelly reminds me about the dissatisfaction of some parishioners, particularly young people, with how some adults, including their parents, demonstrate their Christian faith. They have often complained to me about their elders’ hypocrisy – how they treat one another with harshness and disrespect, how they spread rumors about one another.
On this Second Sunday of Easter, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, let us look more seriously into the way we practice our Catholic Christian faith. Have we really failed to show the Risen Jesus to others through our personal and authentic acts of mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion, and kindness? If like the Disciples, we claim that “we have seen the Lord”, can people “see” the Lord in us?
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].
