Home Daily Meditation John 20,19-31

John 20,19-31

by Fr. Michael Della Penna
John 20, 19-31

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 20,19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, «Peace be with you.»
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
(Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.


Peace and happy Easter to all my brothers and sisters listening in today

1) Closed hearts. Thomas represents those of us who are closed in on themselves. These people are stuck in an opaque world, unable to see what transcends beyond and thus deny the creator of creation. The are the rationalists whose logic empirically bind them to their limited senses and thus are incapable of acknowledging or appreciating the mystery of God. It has been said: We do not see things as they are but rather as we are. Thomas, in refusing to believe until he sees, closes his heart to faith and remains stubbornly locked away within himself. In some ways he represents all of us, the human condition of every sinner. We too are trapped within ourselves, closed off and unable to escape own guilt and shame and thus feel far from God’s love, estranged and alienated from Him.

2) Open heart. For this reason the risen Jesus opens the floodgates of his Divine mercy today, and creates a way where there is no way. In allowing Longinus to lance his sacred heart, Jesus opens himself up and pours his very self out, as his blood and water flow out of Him. He thus offers us not something he made, which would be perfect, but rather his very self. And, as St Augustine asked, what of all he made can be more perfect than Him who made it? The blood and water are therefore nothing other than the Eucharist and Baptism, which cleanse us from sin and allow us to be forgiven. They come from the very depths of his heart to which he not only invites all of us Thomases to plunge our hands into, but our very selves into.

3) Seeds Let me end with a true story that can serve as a little parable. In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany there’s a grave on which were placed slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. Why? Because it belongs to a woman who adamantly denied the resurrection of the dead. Her will dictated that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection it wouldn’t reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: “May this tomb bought for eternity never be open.” The irony is that a little seed had somehow gotten under the stones and began to grow. It eventually pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath the huge stones. As it grew, its trunks enlarged, and of course the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from the sockets and, there it was, the grave was exposed. A tiny seed of a birch tree had pushed aside these enormous stones meant to keep her closed in. Easter my brother and sisters is a time to open ourselves to new life. We are reminded that the indestructible seeds of God’s merciful love have the power to come through locked doors and closed hearts, it can move stone and mountains, transform cold and icy hearts and even bring dead people back to life.

God bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Always remember heaven is our goal.


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