2^nd Sunday of Easter C, 2007

In the first reading we hear about

the life of the first Christian community.

In the second reading St. Peter tells us about

our inheritance in heaven.

And in the Gospel

we hear the story of doubting Thomas.

The community described in the first reading is often called

The Early Church. I used to read this passage

with a certain longing to be there among them.

I thought they were the real Christian community.

They lived together; they owned everything in common;

they sold their goods and processions and shared out

the proceeds among themselves according to what

each one needed. 

Then I have to ask myself can I not be a good Christian

unless I live in a community like that?

Really we all have to fit into the societies we live in today

– a village community or an inner city district.

As long as we let God into our lives,

as long as we do not resist the flow of grace into our being

we can live anywhere and be a Christian.

In the Gospel we heard about the apostle Thomas.

He gave us a label to hang on people by calling them

doubting Thomas.

His episode in the Easter story is important for all of us,

because we haven’t seen the Lord in the flesh

and we must believe the testimony of those who have.

Jesus specifically calls us to do that.

We must remember also that seeing Jesus in the flesh

is not everything. His disciples saw him, heard him

and could touch him for three years

and yet Jesus told them many times that

they did not understand him and didn’t even know him

despite being able see him and hear him and touch him.

Only after receiving the Holy Spirit did they truly understand what he was talking about.

When the Spirit of God communicated with their spirit

then they understood.

God is spirit and he is known by spirits including your spirit

and mine. They communicate using the language of spirits

not the language of humans. To see each other

they do not human need eyes and they can touch

without the use of hands. God is spirit and we are made

in his image, we are spiritual beings.

We must know him, and love him - and each other as well –

at the spiritual level.