Sunday Readings
March 30, 2008 :: Second Sunday of Easter
Scripture
ACTS 2:42 — 47
The community of believers took care of one another’s needs.
1 PETER 1:3 — 9
Without ever having seen Jesus, we still love him.
JOHN 20:19 — 31
Thomas had not seen Jesus after Jesus died and had trouble believing in him..
THEME
“Seeing is believing.” That could have been Thomas’s motto. Jesus replies that blessed are the ones who have not seen and who still believe. We have not seen Jesus with our own eyes but our faith has led us to see him in our hearts and in one another. That kind of faith led the early Christian community to care for one another with so much zeal.
FOCUSING OBJECT
A flashlight
REFLECTIONS
Thomas did not quite “get it” when the other Apostles were telling him that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted to see for himself. Is that really so strange? Would you believe it if your friends told you that while they were locked in a room someone who had recently died walked through the door and appeared to them? Would you want to see it yourself?
• When it comes to Christianity, do you think you “get it”? Do you “see the light”? If so, what is it all about? If not, what don’t you get? What questions do you have about Jesus’ Resurrection?
The continuum of doubt and belief has two extremes. On the “extreme doubt” side is cynicism. A cynic doubts everything, especially people’s good intentions. It can be a negative, unhappy way of seeing things. A person on the opposite side, the “extreme belief” side, is gullible. That person believes whatever anyone says. It can be a happy, but sometimes dangerous, way of seeing things.
• Are you a doubting Thomas? Do you think you are cynical? Do you think you are gullible? Why or why not?
CLOSING
Namasté is a greeting used in Nepal and India. It is an honorable way of acknowledging another person and expressing respect, understanding, or general care. It is pronounced “Nah-Mah-STAY.”
I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, We are one.
Adapted from One Hundred Graces
For complete Sunday reading go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/
In Touch With the Word: Lectionary-Based Prayer Reflections, by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart (Winona, MN: Saint Mary’s Press, 2004).
Copyright © 2004 by Saint Mary’s Press, www.smp.org.
All rights reserved. Used with permission of the publisher.