My Lord and my God!
Christ appeared to the apostles on the evening of His resurrection. God willed that the Apostle Thomas should not be with them. The apostles said to him: “We have seen Jesus! We doubted at first, thinking in fear that we were seeing a ghost. But Jesus said to us, ‘Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ Then He asked if we had anything to eat, and ate it in our presence, so that we might believe that it was really Him risen from the dead. The bones of the fish that Jesus ate are a testimony to that. Jesus is really alive. All of us, the ten apostles and the two disciples who went to Emmaus, have seen Him with our own eyes.” But Thomas would not accept the testimony of the apostles and did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. For a whole week he was in unbelief and just kept repeating to them: “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” A week later, on Sunday evening, Jesus appeared to the apostles again. His first words were: “Peace be with you!” Then He turned to Thomas and repeated his request in exactly the same words: “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” How did Thomas respond? He cried out: “My Lord and my God!”
Truly Jesus should be my Lord and my God to each of us. He should be the Lord of our lives. He is true God, who died for our sins and rose from the dead. Once we cross the threshold of death, we will meet Jesus face to face. If we believed in Him and gave Him our sins, involved Him in our life, He will invite us to enter into His glory. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and everyone who believes in Him has eternal life. Thomas did not believe, but then he fell on his knees and confessed his faith: “My Lord and my God!”
Today, each of us can realize: I do not see Jesus, but He sees me. He knows all my thoughts, my future and the day of my death. He wants me to serve Him, to live according to His commandments and the conscience He has given me.
Let us turn to Jesus: “Lord, You are here. I want to encounter You. Touch my heart that I may also confess to You, ‘My Lord and my God.’”
Life is short and eternity is without end, and we love God so little! The First Commandment is, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,” but that love is tied to faith. Faith is the foundation. Hope and love are built on faith. If we do not have living faith, we do not have true love. Jesus says to us too: “Stop doubting and believe.” And what did Thomas say? “My Lord and my God!” I need to remember more often: Who is my Lord?
At the end of John’s Gospel it says: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” Thus, faith in Jesus Christ is the condition for having eternal life. If we do not have this faith, we do not have eternal life. Faith in Jesus connects us to Him. Through that faith, He will also give us the grace and strength to overcome our weaknesses, so that the power of God can work in us and through us. Pure love is ready to lose anything to make room for Jesus. So let us make room for Jesus, throwing away the wealth of doubting thoughts and all kinds of lies that we believe and then feel gloomy about. And the risen Jesus will say to each of us: “Peace be with you!”
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