"Then He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
John 20:20

Second Sunday of Easter

Homily by Fr. Guenther Kerkmann, SJ

St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo 

(Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31)

There are three main topics in today’s Gospel.

 

  1. The appearances of our Lord gives the early church a weekly rhythm for their assembly.
  2. Christ transmits his power to the apostles.
  3. Christ exercises His authority as the Risen Lord by transferring the power to forgive sins to His apostles. He sends the Holy Spirit on His apostles by breathing on them. It is the repletion of the creation gesture. He breathes new life into His church. His death and resurrection are the victory over evil and sin. The Church is to continue His mission to forgive sins. But all this presupposes that we believe in the Risen Lord.


Christ Himself helps His disciples to believe in Him. To illustrate this, we have here the fascinating story of Thomas.


Thomas is a contemporary figure. He is every one of us. He does not want to believe in mere words. We, especially the young people among us, do want to believe in mere words, especially not in pious talk. We have been disappointed too often. We have been deceived by words too often. Thomas finds a community that claims to have seen the Risen Lord. But it is a community that is still afraid, that is still hiding, a community that does not act in accordance with the claim to have seen the Risen Lord. It is a community that claims to have received the Holy Spirit, but does not act accordingly.


Yes, Thomas is a contemporary man, influenced by science, influenced by the visual culture of today. We want to see things, measure them, experiment with them, before we are ready to believe. Jesus understands this: He lets Thomas put his hands in the wounds of His hands and His side. He lets Thomas partake of His passion. Only then can Thomas believe in the resurrection.


We, too, can have that experience by partaking in the Eucharist, which re-enacts the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The experience of the sacraments must be accompanied by the witness of the believing community.


We are called upon to build such communities in which Christ is present, communities filled with the Holy Spirit, that is with Love and Charity. This experience leads to Faith; it also leads others to Fatih. Words are not enough. We need a living community; we need the witness of the living community.


When we celebrate the Eucharist now, let us ask the Lord to give us that Faith, to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to show us His wounds, because in the Eucharist we commemorate Christ’s death and resurrection, so that we can be a witness to that in a world hungry for authentic Love.


‘Ad maiorem Dei gloriam; For the Greater Glory of God’