First Reading Commentary
The opening verse in this Reading perhaps
delineates the origin of monastic life.
Saint John Chrysostom points out how happy society
would be if it operated in this manner.
Those who had much would be able to share with those who had little or
nothing.
Material wealth supplies many of our physical
needs but it can also enrich our spiritual lives if we realize that all we have
belongs to God; and the reason we have it is because it has been entrusted to
us by the Almighty. Our Lord is very
clear about this as He Himself says in Psalm 50: “If I were hungry, I would not
tell you, since the world and all it holds is Mine.”
“Great favor was accorded them all” because
those that were present possessed extraordinary graces and zeal. As Christians, we bear “witness to the Resurrection
of the Lord Jesus.” We
serve Him and love Him. Charity should
be at the heart of our love and service for we cannot serve and love Jesus if
we ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Second Reading Commentary
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ,”
the promised Messiah, the Redeemer of the world, is “begotten by God” and we
are justified by becoming a child of God through the waters of baptism. Other conditions for justification are a
general belief of all that God has revealed and promised; hope, love, repentance
and a sincere disposition to keep God’s holy law and commandments.
“We love the children of God when we love God and
obey His commandments,” for the love
of God and of our neighbor are inseparable; the one is known and proved by the
other.
“And His
commandments are not burdensome” as long as we are not carried away with
worldly possessions. If we stay focused
on the promises of eternal happiness, then the yoke of Christ will be sweet and
His burden light.
“The victory that conquers the world is our
faith. Who indeed is the victor over the
world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” All that is really required of us is to have
faith in Who Jesus is and truly believe and live out the example He gave
us. We are not Christians because of the
works we perform; we are Christians because of what Jesus did; and if we truly
believe in Him, then our faith will naturally move us to perform charitable
works.
Gospel Commentary
It is only the life of prayer that can help us
hear Jesus speak the words, "Peace be with you," when the turmoil of
our lives has us hiding within ourselves.
Only Jesus can penetrate the locked doors of our hearts but like the
disciples, it requires us to have knowledge of Him which comes by means of
spending time with Him.
Our own wounds and scars are reminders of our
Savior's Hands and Side; but trying to have some understanding as to why it is
necessary to have these emotional and physical imprints of life's struggles arrives
at the doors of our hearts with the loving invitation: "As the Father has
sent Me, so I send you." More
precisely, the Greek text translates as: "According as the Father has
commissioned Me, also I am sending you."
That translation with the use of "commissioned" perhaps gives
a clearer understanding of authorization, or that power has been conferred to
go and do the work of the Lord. Saint
Gregory tells us: "And so, He [Jesus] says 'as the Father has sent Me,'
etc; that is, when I send you amid the scandals of the world, I love you with
the same love with which the Father loved Me upon Whom He imposed this burden
of suffering." Saint Augustine
adds: "We know that the Son is equal to the Father but here we recognize
the words of the Mediator. He shows
Himself as standing in between by saying, 'He sends Me and so I send
you.'"
No matter how old in age we become or how much
more we advance in maturity, we are still "children" of God; and very
few passages in Scripture depict that better than this Gospel. Do you have any recollections of your own
childhood when you would run and hide for fear of the repercussions of some
mischievous act you had committed? Here
the apostles are hiding out for fear of the Jews because of their association
with Jesus Christ.
Just before this Gospel story, Mary Magdalene
had seen the risen Lord and went to tell the others. If you recall on Palm Sunday, when Jesus was
arrested the apostles fled. Because of
this, you can imagine their initial fear when Jesus, through locked doors,
appears to them. Jesus says to them:
"Peace be with you." They
must've thought they were seeing a ghost which may be the reason why Jesus
shows them His Hands and His Side. Once
they realized it really was Him, before they rejoiced, one can imagine that
what went through their minds was a big Aramaic, "UH-OH!" It's human nature to assume that once we've
betrayed someone, they will come back with a vengeance. But Jesus returns offering His peace. This not only teaches us something about our
God but also is a blueprint for us as to how we should deal with each
other. We've all had experiences of
being hurt as well as hurting others.
But we can't hide from each other forever. When our paths cross again, the label of
"Christian" should dictate that we receive one another with the peace
and forgiveness of Jesus. We all have
the same enemy who tries to corrupt our relationships; and is very good at it
since we're more apt to blame flesh and blood.
When Jesus breathes on the apostles and gives
them the power to forgive or retain sins, the Council of Trent defined this as
the moment that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance.
Most certainly it was no accident that Thomas
was not present. Divine Providence was
at work here because future disciples would need his doubts to combat their own
skepticism. When Thomas is given the
opportunity to touch Christ's Wounds, he doesn't merely say, "Okay, now I
believe." Rather, Providence saw
fit for Thomas to make a divine proclamation which would echo for an eternity:
"My Lord and my God!" These
words remove all misconceptions. This is
Jesus Christ and He is risen from the dead and He is our Lord and our God.
Tertullian, an early
Church writer, in his work titled: "De
Carni Christi" defends the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by suggesting
that the apostles would not have bought into it if they had not seen our Lord
with their own eyes. He wrote in Latin: "Natus est Dei Filius; non pudet, quia
pudendum est. Et mortuus est Dei Filius;
prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est.
Et sepultus, resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile." This translates as: "The Son of God was
born; there is no shame, because it is shameful. And the Son of God died; it is
wholly credible, because it is ridiculous. And buried, He rose again, it is
certain, because impossible."
Tertullian defended the true faith against the heresy of Docetism which
touted that Jesus was pure Spirit; and the story of the Incarnation had only a
symbolic meaning, while the Crucifixion and Resurrection were illusions.
