“My Lord and my God”

Reflection on Gospel of John 20: 19-31

There is a common saying that “seeing is believing.” That is what Thomas, Didymus (the Twin) told his fellow disciples when they told him that Jesus had risen and paid them a visit. You can hardly blame him for his incredulity. Resurrection is not something that happens everyday. Thomas had certainly not heard of any before. The raising of Lazarus and a couple of other persons from the dead by Jesus was not quite the same thing.

Jesus understood Thomas' problem. So he returned to show himself specifically to Thomas. He did not rebuke him for his incredulity. tie merely invited him to step forward and verify for himself that it was truly he, and he had risen from the dead. We are not told whether Thomas actually took Jesus' invitation or not, whether he actually put his finger into the holes that the nails made and his hand into his side. It would seem that merely seeing the risen Jesus was enough for him. It was enough for him to make a profound act of faith: "My Lord and my God." Indeed, "seeing is believing." Thomas saw and believed.

What Jesus said next is instructive. He said, "You believe because you can see me~ Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe." That is to say, "seeing is believing" is alright, but to believe when you have not seen - physically, that is- is better. In other words, believing after you have seen is really no big deal. Anybody can do that if they have eyes that see. But to believe when you have not actually seen, purely on divine authority, is what has real value in the sight of God. That is the virtue of faith, which, according to the Catechism, is a "supernatural gift of God." It is what is celebrated in Hebrews 11, which begins thus: "Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen."

That faith is what we have when we believe that Jesus really did rise from the dead, that he gave the power to forgive sins in his name to the Church when he said, as we read in today's Gospel passage, "Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained'”, that the Holy Eucharist is the true body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, among other things. Indeed, there is an age-old custom in the Catholic Church to say "My Lord and my God" at the Elevation during the Consecration at Mass. Those were the very words of Thomas when he saw the risen Jesus.

If that is the kind of faith we have, the same risen Jesus assures us that we are "happy", that is "blessed" since we have not seen and yet believe.