Put your finger here and see my hands

3 JULY (Jn 20,24-29)

Never had God given such overwhelming evidence of his truth. When Moses prayed to the Lord to show him his face, his wish was granted only in part. Moses did not have the joy of seeing God’s face. He saw only the back from the cave in the rock: “Then Moses said, “Do let me see your glory!” He answered, “I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, ‘Lord’; I who show favors to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will. But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives. Here,” continued the Lord, “is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face is not to be seen.” The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the former, that I may write on them the commandments which were on the former tablets that you broke. Get ready for tomorrow morning, when you are to go up Mount Sinai and there present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and no one is even to be seen on any part of the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to go grazing toward this mountain.” Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, “Lord.” Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers’ wickedness!” Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own» (Ex 33,17-34,9).

Why so much complacency on the part of Jesus to Thomas, who, in order to believe, wants to put his finger in the hole of the nails and his hand in the pierced side by the spear? Jesus hears the request of Thomas in order to give the world the infallible certainty of his glorious resurrection. In Thomas there is all of humanity that is in front of Jesus and this confesses that Jesus is truly risen. He touched him. He put his hands in the place of nails. That Jesus that appears and then disappears is really the Crucifix, the Jesus that had performed signs and wonders among the people.

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 nail marks 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.”

However, once the prove is given, everyone is has placed before his own responsibility. If he does do not believe, it is due to unbelief, and not to lack of prove. If he does not believe, he is guilty of eternal death, because he will die in his sin. This does not mean that the evidence of history on which the faith in Jesus Christ is founded must not be offered any more. Every one of his disciples must be proof of the resurrection of the Lord, today. His resurrection to new life is a prove. His life made of charity, mercy, piety, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion, truth, victory over vice, and elimination of sin in every form is a prove. The creative and all-powerful Word that changes history in the eyes of those who are invited to faith is also a prove. Without this prove it is unlikely that faith can start in a heart. The prove is the support of the Word of God that is announced and that is given. Risen Christ is not seen, because today one must see the body of Christ that rose from sin, from vice, and from the spiritual death.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make us rise in Christ Jesus.