Second Sunday of Easter Jn,19-31

How to achieve faith.

Young children were preparing for their first communion. An uncle of a boy asked his nephew, “How can you believe that God exists when you have never seen him?” has he never seen him either? ”

Brethren in Christ, as we read today’s gospel, a similar event is presented to us. We have heard the words: I will not believe unless I see and put my finger in unless I put my hand. But then, when the resurrected Jesus appears, he fulfills these conditions of the apostle and says to him, “You believed because you saw me. Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed ”(Jn 20:29).

The apostle in question is Thomas. Thomas, who finally acknowledges, Jesus rose from the dead and proclaims him his God and Lord. After this confession, Jesus slightly rebuked Thomas for mistakenly believing that sensory knowledge was safer than knowledge by grace. Thomas wanted to determine the conditions of faith, although he did not ask for anything more than the other apostles in their first encounter with the risen Lord. We do not know how grace worked on Thomas’s belief. The great instrument of grace seems to have been an experience for the apostle. He saw the Lord with his wounds. Jesus did not appear as some triumphant. But as the Lamb who carried on his body the mark of the holy sacrifice of the cross for us. Jesus, crucified and resurrected, was an inescapable sign to Thomas that God was merciful and powerful.
Faith is God’s gift, a supernatural virtue that God infuses. For this faith to be aroused, it is necessary for God’s previous and helping grace and the Holy Spirit’s inner help, who will move the heart and turn it to God. It opens the mind’s eyes and gives everyone a sense of happiness from agreeing with the truth and believing in it. So faith is not a deduction from human judgments, but on the other hand, it is not possible to explain the beginning of faith without reason. Therefore, the approach to faith must be sought by removing religious ignorance through study, removing prejudices and ambiguities, deepening concepts and knowledge from God’s message, especially about all revealed truths. There is, therefore, a difference between the beginning of faith and its source, to the source by which God’s grace is given without merit to trust in God’s revelation, in God’s wisdom, in God’s goodness and power. God will give this grace to all who sincerely seek.

We know from experience that one can know a great deal about the Lord Jesus, yet one does not have to have faith. In the Christian sense, faith is not faith in something or something, but it is faith above all in someone. Faith to God. And it must be the faith of man. The apostles told Thomas that they had seen and been with the Lord, but he did not believe them. And so he had to meet him alone. This meeting of Thomas with the risen Jesus is also an extraordinary gift. The testimony of the people who met Jesus and to whom the resurrected Jesus appeared was present in the Scriptures and the Church’s faith. It is, therefore, open to all generations who live on this earth after Jesus’ ministry. It’s not about knowing everything about the Lord Jesus, knowing all his words, his deeds. The point here is to have so much knowledge, so to believe those who give it to me so that my faith may arise. She will carry my life as a link between my humanity and God’s life. The life of God that God has given me through Jesus Christ. So it’s about life. Well, not for any life, but the life of God. A life in which I believe by my actions. I thank God for the gift of faith and help my neighbor to achieve it. This life has many trials where we can lose our faith or undermine its foundations. We can also use them to grow in faith. Therefore, let us try to take care of her more and more by further studying, praying, and receiving the sacraments, which are the main sources of God’s grace so necessary for faith. Let us not forget that the Lord Jesus also spoke of the further spread of faith among others. To be true witnesses of the faith. For God will give the grace necessary for faith only if the person in question feels it through our words, through our deeds, through our attitudes. Therefore, let us be accountable to our mission and thankful to God for the faith by passing it on. After all, even the apostles did not keep the faith for themselves but preached what Jesus told them. Through their words and deeds, they proclaimed the life of faith. What is a life in which there is no faith in God, no faith in the risen Jesus Christ? The apostles not only taught in faith, not only lived in faith but also confirmed their faith by their martyrdom.

One old legend says: Many years ago, a man named Yu Gung lived in the Chinese mountains, which in our language means “funny old man.” This older man was troubled by a single worry about removing the mighty mountain from the door of his house, which blocked his view and blocked his sunlight. After a long meditation, he decided to shovel it with his sons to another place. And they went to work. When an old man named Ji Sou, or “wise age,” learned of this strange commitment, he laughed at them and gave them an ironic lesson: “Only a fool can do such a crazy job. A few people can’t move such a mighty mountain to another place. ”Yu Gung paused, shot his back, turned his gaze to the sun, and said contentedly,“ When I die, my children stay here; when the children die, their children will remain here, and this is how the generations will change in a constant cycle. This mountain is really high, but it is not able to become even higher. On the contrary, it will be as low as we reduce it by our daily work. So why shouldn’t we do it? ” He wiped the sweat from his forehead, grabbed the shovel powerfully in his hands, and continued to carry the mountain that bothered him day by day, without the shadow of pessimism. Such an attitude of the “ridiculous old man” touched the Ruler and one day sent his heavenly helpers to earth to carry over the mighty mountain with which the admirable old man had been grazing for years.

Each of us has such a mountain in front of us. This mountain obscures our view of the Lord God, obscures our faith in God. Why? For this mountain is made up of our imperfections, our ignorance, our sins. And we, when we want to have before us a clear view only of God, whose brightness pierces a little over this mountain, we must transmit it. How? We begin to transmit it slowly every day through our acts of love, prayer, knowledge of the truth, and our repentance for our sins. Someone can also come to us who will tell us that it is foolishness. After all, a person is so imperfect that sometimes he sins more than he repents. Or he can oppose that one has no chance of being perfect in this world. He is right, but man is not alone here, he has brothers and sisters to help him, and above all, he has a brother, the risen Jesus Christ. He showed us how to carry a mountain and still helps us to carry it. Whether to the generations before us, our generation, but also to those who will follow us. Through the sacraments which he instituted for us, in particular the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

Brothers in Christ! At this time of Easter, let us turn to the risen Jesus Christ always to believe because faith carries the mountains. Lord Jesus, you said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.” Give us the strength to believe in your infinite love, in your mercy, and give us the strength to help each other in this faith.