As the Father has sent me, so I send you

7 APRIL (Jn 20,19-31)

The means chosen by God for Jesus Christ to carry out in the world the mystery of salvation, must be the same for each of his disciples. The ways of Jesus are: obedience until death on the cross, fulfillment of the will of the Father in the perpetual motion, conduction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Through the Psalm and the Word of the Gospel, we can identify these two truths that are the life of Lord Jesus.

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your loving kindness and Your truth from the great congregation. (Psalm 40 (39), 6-11).

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3,13-17).

Jesus gives the mission received from the Father and the Holy Spirit that poured from his side to his apostles, so that they are the ones from this moment on to effect the redemption of the world, of every man. Heart of the work of Christ in the disciples is the Holy Spirit. If they dissociate themselves from him, or because of their lack of holiness they do not outpour him unto those who are called by God to salvation, their work will be in vain.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Like Christ Jesus lived toward the Father, in a lasting communion of grace and truth in the Holy Spirit, so it must be the apostle of the Lord. He must always live in the Holy Spirit of God and in his truth find the truth of Christ and of God so that it is the truth of his mission.

The moment the apostle were to be separated from the Spirit of God, for whatever reason, he immediately looses truth of God and of Christ Jesus and consequently he also loses his truth. The mission he lives gets out of the way of God and Jesus and turns into a human, earthly way. When this happens it means that he is no longer in the Spirit of the Lord. We live with the spirit of evil, of sin, of the world. No fruit of salvation will be produced any more. We are without truth and grace.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us of true communion.