Low Sunday 19.4.20 Reassurance
Thomas wanted more proof of all that was being said. We are
not supposed to ask for more proof all the time, but many of us would still identify
with Thomas.
We always seem to need reassurance. The Lord has delivered
us in the past, but will He deliver us this time? It is alright to ask for
reassurance but not to demand it.
We cannot put conditions on God or give Him ultimatums. Unless
He come and work a miracle right now I will not believe – that sort of
approach.
Our Lord says: Blessed are those who have not seen. That
must include us: we have not seen Him in the flesh; we did not have the chance
to touch Him as Thomas did.
But we have ‘seen’ Him in other ways; we have perceived His
presence and His activity.
Our Lord has other ways of making His presence felt than in
spectacular miracles.
As with His childhood and private life in Nazareth, a large
of part of His life was spent doing ordinary things; so ordinary that His neighbours
did not think He had any particular outstanding qualities (Is not this the carpenter’s
son – Mt 13,55)
By spending so much time on the ordinary, Our Lord is teaching
us that in doing ordinary things well we are going to find Him, or ‘see’ Him.
He reveals Himself progressively. If we show that we are
capable of recognizing Him in this more subtle way, He will make Himself better
known to us.
His post-resurrection appearances had this quality. He did
not burst in on the apostles and say, Look, I am risen.
He appeared to them quietly and left it to them to find
their way to belief.
In this He gave the apostles the chance to grow in faith,
and so He has been doing ever since for us.
He draws out the faith that lives in us, but we may not have
known it was there.
Some things we know; other things we trust. We are dealing
with the same Person who is always reliable.
Thus we can base our course on that certainty.
If we could add another beatitude it might be: Blessed are
those who know where to look! Those, who are accustomed to the Lord’s voice;
His manner; His ways.
We are blessed if we can do this because it puts us in the
way of receiving a lot more grace, of being able to understand and to explain
the ways of the Lord.
We can never completely fathom God's reasons for doing
certain things, but we can still proceed with a trusting and compliant attitude
– what a disciple should have been all along.
If we are ever flagging in faith, we have a great many
miracles to call upon.
We should not need miracles to believe but they are there
all the same.
God has intervened many times in human history to make a
point.
We draw comfort from these times, but most of all it is the
Person of Christ we possess. My Lord and My God, said St Thomas.
He is Lord and God; He is always in control. Therefore we
take refuge in Him, not the wisdom of the world, or its celebrities – but only
in God.
We give Him each moment, and the waters will part in the
middle to let us through.
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