Low Sunday, April
15, 2012
John 20: 19-31
Today is the Octave of the New Pasch, the day of
light, which is Easter Sunday. Our Lord’s Resurrection on a Sunday takes the
place of the Jewish Sabbath, and from that day on the first day of the week is
to be kept holy. Christ’s second appearance to His Apostles was also on a
Sunday, and is the subject of today’s Gospel. Later, the Holy Ghost descended
upon the Apostles and the women in the upper room on Pentecost Sunday, which is
the birthday of the Church. Today, Jesus wins the perfect faith of His Apostles;
especially in His dealing with the one we call “Doubting Thomas.”
Thomas is so much like today's rationalists who
think that human reason is the final authority in all matters. What faith
Thomas had was a scientific deduction and not a generous longing after God and
supernatural truth. People of this faith are afraid of believing too much and
are satisfied with little fragments of Truth. Psalm 11 describes them well when it says: “Truths are decayed from
among the children of men.”
Contrast
Thomas with St. John at the grave of Jesus on Easter morning. John allowed Peter to enter first. [John 20: 8] “Then that other disciple
also went in, who came first to the sepulcher [John]: and he saw, and believed.”
All the Apostles should have believed from the moment they heard that Christ's
body was not in the tomb. They lived with Him for three years. They had seen
the undeniable miracles He performed. He told them shortly before His Passion
that He was about to be taken, that He would be scourged, spit upon and put to
death. He told them that He would rise on the third day. But it is one of the
consequences of the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, that we
hesitate to give ourselves over to perfect faith. So God makes further advances
to us out of His love for us.
Thomas
had heard the events told by Magdalene and Peter and the other Apostles and the
two disciples who met Christ on the Road to Emmaus, but he would not change his
opinion. We have no problem accepting the testimony of a trustworthy witness in
a court of law. But if someone gives testimony touching on the supernatural, then
we find a hundred objections! Jesus told all of them that “. . . in me you may
have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have
overcome the world.” [John 16: 33]
Thomas had not yet “overcome the world” and its way of thinking, because he had
not faith. St. John reminds us of the power and potential of faith in his First
Epistle: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the
victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” (1 John 5: 4] Thomas’ punishment for his sin of disbelief was
merciful, but severe. His punishment was to have these words said to him: “Because
thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not
seen, and have believed.” (John 20: 29)
When Mary Magdalene and the
other women told the Apostles what had happened at the tomb, they treated them
as women whose imagination had gotten the better of their judgment. Jesus had
to come in person and show Himself to these obstinate men, whose pride had
gotten the better of their judgment. Pride is the great obstacle to Faith. If a
man were humble, he would have faith enough to move a mountain. (Matthew 17: 20, Mark 11: 23) By His
appearance to the Apostles today, Christ wins the perfect faith of His
disciples because it’s impossible not to recognize God in the patience, the
majesty and the charity of Him Who stood before them.
After
Thomas affirmed his faith in saying, “My Lord and my God,” it was then for the
instruction of persons of the rationalist class, like so many people of today,
that our Lord spoke the words to Thomas: “Blessed are they who have not seen,
and have believed.” Thomas sinned in not having the readiness of mind to
believe. We are in danger of committing that same sin unless our faith allows
us to see everything with the eye of faith. When faith becomes our daily bread,
our lives are changed for the good – in our jobs, with our friends and family -
and they are changed forever. God then
provides us with a superabundance of understanding and joy. We can then look at
everything that happens to us every day, both good and bad, and know that the
entire universe is a miracle.
Christ
has died for us. Christ has risen, giving us the promise of eternal life if we
do as He commands. Let’s learn from St. Paul how we can do that: “The night is
passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention
and envy: But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (Romans: 13: 12-14) Our
present life is full of trials, but Jesus said I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
We
can ask about today's Gospel reading, how is it possible that Jesus entered into
the room with the doors shut as if He were
a ghost, yet Thomas was able to touch Him? Is this so impossible for Him Who
rose from the dead, and for Him who ate food with the disciples on the Road to
Emmaus, and for Him who was born of a virgin? If you say you believe in God,
then your faith is terribly weak if you still believe that human reason can
provide all the answers. There would be nothing to wonder at in this Divine universe
if all things could be grasped by reason alone.
Today
is the Octave of the Pasch, or the eighth day after Easter. The origin of the
term Low Sunday is uncertain, but it is thought to indicate the contrast
between today and the High Feast of Easter.
Today is also called Quasi modo Sunday, from the first words in the
Introit, “As new-born babes: [you
should] desire the rational milk without guile.”The Church uses the words “as
new-born” in reference to mankind’s renovation through the Resurrection, where
now, as St. Paul tells us, we can “put on the new man.” (Ephesians 4: 24)
We Celebrate the
Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass
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