The expression “Doubting Thomas” comes from the remarkable Easter story we hear on the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) from John 20, 19-31. The Apostle Thomas, one of Jesus’s inner circle, was slow to believe in the Resurrection. He demanded concrete evidence before he could believe that the risen Jesus had appeared to his fellow Apostles. His story offers some comfort to those of us who are always nagged by doubts.
With the memory of the Lord’s crucifixion fresh in their hearts, the nervous disciples had locked the doors of their meeting room. They had locked themselves in for fear of Jewish reprisals. They were afraid that what was done to Jesus could be done to them. The turning point came when Jesus appeared among them and breathed the Holy Spirit into them, filling them with new purpose: “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” In the power of the Spirit they left their self-imposed prison, to go out and spread the message of Jesus.
Are we sometimes like the Apostles, when they were still in the upper room: indecisive, inactive, and unwilling to promote the faith? Have the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” dented our confidence? Are we sometimes unable to see a way forward? Do our past failures make us hesitant to try again? Today’s Gospel offers a solution: the Lord Himself has power to revive our courage and our faith. No locked doors, nor even locked hearts, can keep Him out.
Let us pray. “O Lord, I cannot comprehend you and do not understand your ways. I nonetheless trust in your mercy. Do what you will with me, O Jesus; I will adore you in everything. May your will be done in me, O my Lord and my God, and I will praise your infinite mercy. Amen.” St. Faustina Kowalska
***
To read about Divine Mercy Sunday: https://young-catholics.com/5404/divine-mercy-sunday-year-a/
