Easter Faith

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“When it was late that same day, in the first of the week, though the doors where the disciples gathered had been closed for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you’” (John 20:19).

Our Lord didn't waste much time before coming to the apostles. We are told that the doors had been closed for fear of the Jews. The very people that the apostles were supposed to be evangelizing, they were hiding themselves away from—hiding in fear and dread of those very people.

But yet, “Jesus came.” Powerful words. The verb attached to the Holy Name in Scripture can be very powerful. Our Lord comes. He comes through closed doors. He comes through closed hearts. Doors of hearts that may be closed to Him.

We find that we are knocking on doors of hearts that are closed. Maybe, over time, with the grace of God, Our Lord will come in there—and also, to our own hearts that may be closed a little bit in certain areas that need to be more open.

Or, if there are areas of our life where we are sort of hiding away like the apostles were, Our Lord invites us to have a deep impact on our environment, on society, and on people.

We have to let Him come through those closed doors and lead us out from behind those places to the great horizons that He has planned for us. And so, “He came.”

We could ask Our Lord in this period after Easter that He also might come to us. Come into our hearts and transform them, into our souls—lead us on to a higher level; help us to be more Christ-like; help us to go through that same transformation that the apostles are going through in these hours and days—a gradual growth in their faith, from having almost none to going forward to being great saints and great apostles.

Our Lord stood in their midst, smack in the middle of them, inviting them to do precisely the same in relation to other people—to be in the middle of the world, to be in the middle of our friends, the middle of our environment, concerned about that environment, to change it, to lift it up onto a different level.

He said, “Peace be to you.” The first words of Our Lord to the apostles after He rises from the dead are words of peace.

He could have exploded. He could have called them all the things that He called the Pharisees for all their infidelity, their weakness. “You brood of vipers!” (Matt. 12:34). “You whitewashed tombs” (cf. Matt. 23:27).

But He builds them up: “Peace.” He calms them down and He builds them up. He's winning them again, little by little.

In our dealings with souls, we could also learn from this. We have to bring peace to people: peace to their hearts, peace to their souls, to their minds, to their imagination.

May our first words with people around us also be words of peace so that they feel peaceful in our company. They don't feel threatened.

We win souls with that peace. “Sowers of peace and joy” (Josemaría Escrivá, Furrow, Point 59), because that's what Christ did.

That's our role, everywhere, to see how I can bring a little bit of peace and joy to this particular situation, workplace, get-together, or gathering of people.

“When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side” (John 20:20a).

Immediately, Our Lord begins to speak to them about the Crucifixion. He shows them that it is truly Him that has risen. Resurrexit sicut dixit–He has risen as He promised.

These wounds that He has on His hands and His side—these are His DNA.

“Come, follow me, and I will make you into fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19).

“If you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).

He shows them these wounds to prove that it is truly Him. He shows that they must have faith in those wounds. He seems to invite them to enter into those wounds—to find their strength, their consolation, their fire—because love is there in those wounds.

He seems to invite them also to be like Him, to give themselves completely. He is now calling them again.

He called them the first time in the boat, “Come, follow me.” But now He is calling them again, building them up to a new supernatural level, helping them to see new aspects of their vocation: new height and new depth, new seriousness.

He is building them up from nothing, and He is saying to them that all that has to be built on the Cross, in unity to His person—a deeper unity—unity to His wounds.

“Enter into the wounds of Christ crucified” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 288)—as though telling them that it is in and through those wounds that you will find all the answers.

In Christ, we find the meaning and the purpose of our life.

“The disciples, therefore, rejoiced at the sight of the Lord” (John 20:20b).

There are sort of three movements in this particular drama. There is the apparition of Our Lord; there is Him showing them the proof that He has truly risen; and there is their reaction. “They rejoiced at the sight of the Lord.”

Now that fear of the Jews that was dominating them, fear and sadness, is dispelled. “They rejoiced at the sight of the Lord.”

Lord, may we also find our joy in seeing you in people and places and things and events; in uniting ourselves to you in the Blessed Sacrament; in rejoicing in our possession of you in Holy Communion each day, so that that joy fires us up.

“He, therefore, said to them again, ‘Peace be to you.’” (John 20:21) as though the first time was not enough. Now Our Lord repeats those words of peace, emphasizes peace.

I want you to be calm, serene, and peaceful always; peaceful not just because of your chemistry, but peace because you know that I am truly risen. It is me. I am the source of your peace and of your joy. And I want you to have so much peace that you radiate it to other people. Peace is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

There was a man in Singapore once who used to travel a lot to different countries. He was a cooperator and was very interested and curious, and wanted to know more about the Work. When he went to visit different countries, sometimes he would go to visit a center of the Work.

One time, he was chatting with me and he said, ‘You know, I've discovered what it is that makes all the members of Opus Dei similar.’

Of course, St. Josemaría used to emphasize that we are not similar; we are all very different individuals, very distinct. I was very curious to find out what it was that this man had discovered that made everybody similar.

He said, ‘It's their peace.’ Now you ask any member of Opus Dei if they feel peaceful, they'll probably tell you, ‘Well, no, I've got to do this, I've got to do that, I've got to finish my norms, I'm trying to do apostolate, I've got a to-do list as long as a mile and I'm trying to get through it, and I've got to go here, I've got to collect my children from school, I've got to do all these other things.’

But really, what he was saying, in spite of all of that—the struggle, the battle of each day—there's a gift of the Holy Spirit in the souls of people who try to live their Christian vocation well, a gift that possibly the people themselves are not so much aware of, but other people see it.

Gaudium cum pace–joy with peace (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 768).

“‘As the Father has sent me, I also send you’” (John 20:21). Now Our Lord speaks about the mission, the very purpose of their existence, a target that has to give meaning to the whole of their life.

Lord, help me to be very focused on the mission. I'm fired up about my mission to bring peace to so many people around me because of my unity to you.

The peace is very much tied up to the mission, and the joy that they have is tied up also.

Their mission is to bring Christ to other people, with their words, with their actions, with their lives, with their lifestyles. It's all about the mission.

They're going to be apostles, they're going to be sent, they're learning more now about their apostolate, about what they're sent to, what's their goal. This is to be the mission of their life.

Our Lord wants them committed to that mission. He talks to them very early about it: I don't want you here, cowering in fear behind closed doors; I want you out there, having an impact.

St. Josemaría used to say, “We have to open out like a fan. ... Out of a hundred souls, we're interested in a hundred” (J. Escrivá, Furrow, Points 193, 183).

It's not that out of a hundred, we're interested in two or three; no, it's a hundred. It's a total vision, it's a hundred percent commitment. It's a wonderful ideal.

That's why our apostolate has to fire us up. We have to be enthused. We have to think big. The breadth and length and height of the world—we're interested in every last environment.

Our Lord wants to use us as His instruments like He used the apostles. He's going to send them to the ends of the earth.

“When he had said this, he breathed upon them.” There's quite a lot happening in this short little drama. “He breathed upon them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22).

Now these days of Easter are like a period of preparation for the Holy Spirit. He's going to bring His fire, His knowledge, and His truth. He's going to complete all the things that Our Lord has done: the beginning of the Church, or the final stone, if you like.

"Our Lord breathed upon them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained’” (John 20:22-23).

He speaks to them about the sacrament of Confession, emphasizing that it's a very personal thing. “Whose sins you shall forgive.” The apostles have to make a judgment.

The priest has to make a judgment. It's instituted by way of judgment. You judge about the contrition of the penitent, whether to give them absolution or whether not to give them absolution. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”

In this very short passage, Our Lord has changed the game; changed the whole scenario; broken down the doors and the barriers—lifted them up and instilled them with peace; spoken to them about all the graces that He's achieved on the Cross, which they are to administer through the sacraments, and also given them the Holy Spirit.

And so, the stage is set. They haven't quite appreciated what has happened. It's all too early. But Our Lord has made it very clear: He's got a plan for the coming days.

Then Our Lord, having done most of the talking in this early part of the drama, the Scripture switches to Thomas. Of all the apostles, we focus on Thomas: “doubting Thomas.” He is the example of the greatest lack of faith that there could be.

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came” (John 20:24). Very providentially he wasn't there because now he's going to play a greater role.

“The other disciples, therefore, said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’” Now you would think that those would be the sweetest words that any of the apostles could have heard.

“But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and I put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe’” (John 20:25).

It's a very interesting defiant assertion of lack of faith or against faith. It's not just a casual rejection of the apostles, who were his friends, his confidants—you would think that as soon as he heard something from these people so close to him, they would have enough credibility. But nobody seems to have too much credibility in Thomas's circle of friends.

“I will not believe”—it is as though his words could be on the lips of every atheist or agnostic for all time—“unless I see in his hands the print of the nails.” I want authentic proof. I want it before my eyes.

Thomas remains in his lack of belief for quite a while, because then we’re told, “After eight days, the disciples were again inside” (John 20:26).

So eight days have passed of Thomas still resisting to believe anything that his brothers have told him. Then we’re told Jesus came.

Jesus comes again. He comes specifically for Thomas—He comes specifically for all those who refuse to believe, so that they might have faith.

The message of Easter is a message of beginning again in faith; of growing in an Easter faith. It is followed with hope and joy and optimism, and a new beginning in our apostolic life, a new launching out into the deep, as though we never did anything before.

It is like Our Lord saying to them, or inviting them to say to themselves, ‘Look, let's wipe the slate clean.’

‘No more messing in my life, in my vocation, in my apostolic mission; now I want to begin again in earnest.’ That's what Our Lord is eliciting from them.

“Jesus came, the doors being closed, and stood in their midst.” So they’re still a bit behind the closed doors. Our Lord has spoken to them. He has invited them, but they haven't yet fully responded. They’re still a bit slow and dull of heart.

The magnificent change that was going to come with Pentecost hasn't yet happened. They are not yet fully converted again. Their weakness is very apparent.

And again, “He said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ Then he said to Thomas...”

Immediately, Our Lord focuses on Thomas, and He is going to speak to Thomas with great affection. Very calmly. Again, He could have exploded at Thomas: ‘You are so reticent in your lack of belief.’ He could have given out to him.

But He speaks to him pretty gently. “‘Bring here your finger, and see my hands; bring here your hand, and put it into my side. Be not unbelieving, but believing’” (John 20:27).

We see Our Lord's immense tolerance for all the weaknesses of the apostles. It is a continuing tolerance. But He draws spiritual strength from this. There are messages, there are lessons.

For each one of us, He invites us to grow in faith. We find that we are a bit like Thomas in some ways, or we are weak in our faith when there are new horizons being opened up in front of us.

Or we see things like the current contradictions and we wonder what is happening. We know Omnia in bonum–all things turn out for the good (Rom. 8:28).

God is doing wonderful things in souls. These days the concerns that we might have, or the questions, like Thomas’s—we ask Our Lord to use this period for a great apostolic bonanza—a great spiritual bonanza in the world, in our corporate apostolic works, in everything that we are involved in, so that the graces may flow.

“Thomas answered and said, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28).

We are not told that Thomas actually took his finger and put it into His side, and put his other finger into the hands of Our Lord. We are just told that Our Lord showed him, or invited him, and that was enough.

The scales fell from his eyes, and he covers this immense distance, a 180-degree change from such a defiant assertion of his lack of faith to a profound lack of faith expressed in those few words, “My Lord and my God.”

Lord, help me to make little acts of faith from time to time, to say to you those words of Thomas, possibly, particularly at the moment of the Consecration.

Increase my faith. Increase my hope. Increase my love. Help me to change on the inside, to grow to be a greater apostle of faith, to launch out into the deep a little more, until it's monumental. Assertion now of faith, and coming from where he has come from, it's even greater.

In this short passage, Our Lord invites the whole world to follow the pathway of Thomas to find that faith.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).

Our Lord talks about the blessedness of all those who are to come in future generations, which includes us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Lord, help me to be a person of greater faith; to grow in that faith day by day, to have great confidence in the infusion of grace and faith that comes into my soul every time I receive the sacraments.

Infuse the virtues of faith, of hope, and of charity, so that with the father of the handicapped person in the Gospel, I can say, “I believe, but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

I believe, I want to believe, but I seem to have so much unbelief. Take away all this unbelief. Make me into a different person.

Very often, the miracles in Our Lord's life occur because of faith: the centurion (Matt. 8:5-13), the woman with the issue of blood (Matt. 9:20-22), the daughter of the ruler (Matt. 9:18-26), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). All of them are cured because of their faith.

Our Lord invites us to make those acts of faith in a concrete way, frequently—a faith in our Christian vocation; a faith where we have been placed; a faith to work where it is needed, putting aside our personal tastes; a faith in the difficulties or the contradictions that might face us on a daily basis—because we know that God is with us, and to realize also the weakness of our reason.

Our reason can very quickly become unreasonable. When we look at things only from a human perspective, we don't see the full picture. We should try and look at things, situations, people, places through the eyes of faith: the situation of the world, the battles in our apostolates for the family, for truth, for goodness, for beauty.

God is pure light (1 John 1:5). Christ the light has come again into the lives of the apostles to enlighten them. “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). He wants them to bring this light to every last person.

Lord, help me to remember that I am a bearer of the light. You have lit a light in my heart, in my soul, in my mind, in my words, and I have to try and spread that light, to bring it to so many people who may be walking in darkness, because they also need the light. They are hungry for the light.

Help me to take care of my formation, every little bit of it. Sometimes in the means of formation—in a Circle, in a class, in a chat—we can pick up a word, a phrase, which possibly can be the vehicle that God wants to use to bring immense light into families, into our soul, into minds, into hearts.

We are told in The Forge:”Work on to the end, to the very end! My child, it is the one who perseveres right to the end who will be saved.”

To work on with faith in this particular thing that has been entrusted to us, “we children of God have the means we need: you too! We will finish, we will top out our building, for we can do all things in him who strengthens us. With God there are no impossibles. They are overcome always” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 656).

In the work that God has given us to do—which may be hidden and silent, in the background, not seen immediately but seen by God—is the great motor to faith. Christianity has been a great motor of change in the world, through people who have worked with faith.

St. Josemaría says, “‘I can do all things in him who strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13). With him, there is no possibility of failure, and this conviction gives rise to the holy ‘superiority complex’ by which we take on things with a spirit of victory, because God grants us his strength” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 337).

The narrative of Our Lord with the apostles in these situations is filling them with that superiority complex that God wants them to have. We have the answers, we have the truth, we have the light.

Now He wants them to go forth and spread it around the place. He wants them to have a spirit of victory, because God is with us.

Look here, my hands and my side, I have overcome the devil, I have overcome death, I have overcome sin, I have overcome evil.

“My child,” said St. Josemaría in The Forge, “you can do nothing on the supernatural level through your own strength, whereas when you become God's instrument you can do everything. ‘I can do all things in Him who strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13). For in his goodness, he wishes to use inadequate instruments, like you and me” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 232).

Our Lord precisely has chosen the worst. We know that we are the worst. God could have chosen much better instruments.

But by using us, with our faith in what we are doing, God is going to truly show that the work is His.

St. Josemaría was given this little seed back in Madrid in 1928, to spread to the ends of the world, and we are part of that story, the story of faith, of greatness.

“Remain in me, and I in you” (John 15:4). Christianity is the religion of remaining in God, and we remain in Him through the norms of our plan of life—our spiritual reading, our presence of God, our Rosary, our sacraments—so that we can dream, to dream with faith.

When it's dark you can see the stars. There might be dark moments in our life where we don't see things clearly, but we look up and we see stars—far-away planets that God wants us to conquer; amazing realities. This is how all the saints lived.

We are invited not just to make acts of faith from time to time, but to live by faith, our bread and butter.

Have a daring faith: faith in the future, faith in this present moment, faith that all things will work out well, that God is working behind the scenes, doing all sorts of things.

There were times in Our Lady's life when she didn't understand, but she acted with faith in His word.

There were many times in the life of the apostles when they didn't understand, but they acted also with faith in His word. “At your word, I will lower the net” (Luke 5:5).

We could ask Our Lady that like her, we also might respond with faith to whatever we're told, and to see this little thing that we're asked to do—it's being asked of us with faith and being asked that we might respond with faith.

Do this little thing now, go here, go there, turn left, turn right, take care of this particular thing. We have to try and see the will of God behind all of those things, so that we can respond with that faith.

When we hear or see something that's asked of us, that very clearly has come from those who have the grace of state which has come from God, then we could ask Our Lady that we might respond like Thomas did, with a humble act of faith, “My Lord and my God.”

If this is what you want, then help me to fulfill it. Help me to change, help me to grow. Help me to put my whole heart and soul and mind into this thing that you may be asking of me.

As St. John Paul liked to say, Our Lady was the “woman of faith” that's put into practice (John Paul II, Homily, Oct. 6, 1979). Mary, may you help us to put our faith truly into practice.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW