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My friends,
This weekend the Church concludes the Octave of Easter
as we celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Easter,
now referred to as Divine Mercy Sunday.
As I was reflecting on our readings today,
I noted an interesting feature
about this Gospel scene in that ———
the Risen Christ retained the scars of the Passion on his body.
I think it’s quite extraordinary.
Jesus had a transformed,
exaulted, glorious risen body that
could pass through doors —— yet he kept the scars.
Now, Christ could have miraculously
erased those scars after the Resurrection but
He chose not to.
They were his personal “signature”.
They helped identify him.
Most of us can often recognize someone
who has changed dramatically over the years
by certain marks and scars.
It was only
when the apostles saw the scars in his hands and side that
they realized that
this was the Jesus of Nazareth they knew,
The Jesus of Nazareth they had spent 3 years walking with,
The Jesus of Nazareth that had been their teacher.
In reality, I believe
that’s why Thomas wanted to see the scars.
Personally, whenever we see a scar
on our knee, finger, face or chest,
we remember how it got there.
Maybe we got these scars from
our own negligence
or that of others.
Some scars came intentionally through surgery or
accidentally from a sports injury
and others maybe from violence.
Some of those scars are on the outside
while others are on the inside,
but each one has a story.
I believe the Risen Lord kept his scars as the evidence of his love.
They also help us
keep his Passion and Death joined with his resurrection.
It can be spiritually distorting to separate them.
If we emphasize the sufferings of Jesus,
it is important to remember that
those sufferings lead to his resurrection.
If we reflect solely on the resurrection of Jesus,
we need to remember that
the road to new and eternal life was through a crucifixion and death.
The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ are all linked.
Theologians call this fusion — this uniting of the Passion.
Death and Resurrection of Christ
the “Paschal Mystery.”
Jesus’ scars are also a promise.
The Risen Lord showed his apostles His scars
and He still has them, to show us that
through him we can have healing and spiritual victory.
Jesus knows the stories behind all our wounds,
the ones on the outside and the ones on the inside.
Catholics — Christians do not have immunity to wounds.
People slander us as they do others;
people harm us as they do others;
people oppose us as they do others;
people deceive us as they do everybody else.
The scars of Jesus should give us the confidence that
real victory comes from doing God’s will.
The scars of the Risen Christ
give us strength that
comes from knowing
we are on the side of the Risen and victorious Christ.
None of the circumstances
outside that locked room
in today’s gospel reading changed
after the apostles received the peace
that Jesus offered them.
They still had to face the same situations they faced
before he entered the locked room.
They still had to face the authorities.
They still had to risk going out into the streets.
They still had to face the crowds who crucified Jesus.
They still had to face trials and troubles —— as each of us do.
The change
occurred inside the room and inside them.
Jesus gave them a strength
and a peace
which they could not generate on their own.
Just as the Apostles recognized Jesus by his scars ——
so will Jesus, in his Divine Mercy, recognize us by our scars.
When we reveal our scars,
when we open whatever wounds we have
to the healing power of Christ’s truth and grace,
they can become places of strength.
That will be true of the church
as well as of our lives.
My friends, the scars of Jesus
give us hope,
strength and confidence that,
through him, and by his divine mercy
our wounds can heal
and even become places of new strength and grace
for ourselves and for others.