Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Susan Schantz
Reading
John 20
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!"
Reflection
The gospel reading tells us about Thomas the Apostle. He was not present at Jesus’ earlier visit to the disciples after the resurrection. When they described their meeting with Jesus, Thomas could not accept their stories, saying:
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.
Each believer has those Thomas moments, when others’ faith declarations just don’t fit our experience. Pain or skepticism or pride can make us push away the witness of other believers. No faith journey is the same.
Reflect on times you may have thought your belief was not so sturdy as others. And think about Jesus who was not put off by Thomas’s demand for evidence. Jesus was and is persistent in presence and love, even when we resist.
Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. ~ Thomas Merton