April 26: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday's Mass

“I have seen the Lord,” says St. Mary Magdalene. “We have seen the Lord,” the disciples tell St. Thomas. These declarations bring to a climax a theme of sight and blindness that runs through St. John’s Gospel.

The theme begins at Cana where His glory is openly seen and His divine identity is proclaimed. But not everyone can see this – only those like the man born blind whose eyes were opened. At another time, some Greeks come to the disciples saying, “We wish to see Jesus.” After the Resurrection, His appearances are sporadic, but there is always some mention of seeing the wounds He bore. Perhaps, then, the wounds are important for really seeing and recognizing Jesus ... after all, it is through His death that He (and we) know Resurrected Life.

How might all of this apply to us today? Well, there is no shortage of wounded people in our world these days. We do our best to feed them and comfort them – and we do so because God has given us the grace to see them (although with more than just our eyes, but also with our hearts).

The work which the Risen Lord has entrusted to us is this: to be present to those who are wounded, revealing His healing love to them. Added to that is the important legacy which Pope Francis has given to us: to be patient with each other, and to extend the forgiveness and mercy of God to all whom we meet.

Let’s never forget that faith in the Resurrection of Christ is not a “dogma” we have to believe. It is a new way of life that comes from the conviction that Christ’s new life is ours as well. In the week ahead, will we see this – and live like we know it is true?