Faith as evidence of things not seen

The first reading this week from Acts of the Apostles offers us a glance at the early life of the new apostolic community. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The account also relates how this new community of believers combined their assets and shared everything they had among all members. This enabled them to meet everyone’s needs. 

Although the Christian communities today participate in a very different world than those of the first century, the sharing of resources to meet the needs of all remains the warrant of our Catholic social teachings. Indeed, the GlobalCommons Alliance reports that if economic systems and technologies were dramatically transformed and critical resources were more fairly used, managed, and shared, there would be enough resources to accommodate current and future populations on this planet.

On the local level, this requires our various Christian communities to extend care and share with those who for reasons of misfortune, unemployment, or difficult life circumstances, are in need. Such compassionate outreach requires a non-judgmental or unbiased disposition towards those who ask for one-time assistance or require ongoing help. People in need often find it difficult to make their needs known or to request aid. Peter tells us in this Sunday’s second reading how God addresses our need. Our great generous and merciful God in his divine mercy gave us a new birth and a renewed living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus.  So, we, too, who believe in the risen Christ can become that living hope for those in need in our communities. 

Because we are also part of a global village, this also means not only caring for those who we can see but also for those we cannot see, especially those who live on the other side of the world. How do we do this? Of course, when possible we support charitable organizations serving global interests that provide medical, educational, or domestic assistance. Moreover, we can remember those in need in our private prayers and in our prayers of the faithful at liturgies. 

Still another very concrete way to care for those we cannot see involves care of our planet. In his encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis invited us to recognize how much poverty stems from the misuse of our planet’s natural resources, especially by wealthier nations. Environmental imbalances due to unchecked consumption or a failure to care for our earth promote economic imbalances around our world. Thus, participating in the spirit of the first Christian communities by sharing in common the goods of our global village requires that we take care of those whom we can see and care for our planet for the sake of those we cannot see.

This Sunday’s Gospel passage offers another reflection about seeing and not seeing, one that discloses a different lesson. One of Jesus’ apostles, Thomas, had not seen Jesus when the other disciples did. On the first day of the week, when the other disciples were gathered with their doors locked because of fear, Jesus came and stood in their midst. Aware of their anxiety, Jesus offered a consoling greeting to these men who were riddled with trepidation. “Peace be with you,” he says, telling them that as the Father has sent him, Jesus is now sending them. Jesus also bestows the Holy Spirit, enabling them to offer others this same peace, the kind of peace that forgiveness brings, the peace that Jesus offered to others so often during his lifetime. 

Their experience of the risen Jesus must initially have been an unbelievable encounter, one that probably did not lend itself fully to the words written, even here in this Sunday’s Gospel. Such an experience with the risen Lord, who showed them his hands and his side, surely eclipsed description. Whatever constituted this experience, we know it was transformative because the disciples, who were described initially as fearful, suddenly rejoiced in the presence of the risen Lord. This Sunday’s reading from Acts of the Apostles relates similar evidence. The experience of seeing Jesus enabled the disciples to move past their fear. For, as they began living a Christ-like life, in their public ministry “many wonders and signs were done through the apostles” (Acts 2:43).   

Thomas, however, was not with the disciples when Jesus stood among them. When they told him, “We have seen the Lord,” Thomas said he would not believe unless he saw for himself. For Thomas, only seeing and touching constituted believing. He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25). A week later, when Thomas is in the company of the other disciples, again Jesus once again came and stood in their midst, greeting them again with peace. 

Jesus’ interaction with Thomas, his skeptical disciple, may be a great consolation to us when we struggle with belief. Jesus does not condemn Thomas or judge him. Instead, Jesus meets Thomas where he is in his faith life and gives him what he needs to believe. Jesus says to him, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand, put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe” (Jn 20:27). 

Thomas, seeing and touching believes and exclaims, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28). We, also, often want to “see” in order to believe, especially when facing doubts about our faith or difficulties that make us fear the future or its outcomes. Yet Jesus provides us the evidence. 

Our Church sets forth a two-thousand-year testimony of the lives of men and women, the great communion of saints, as well as those perhaps in our own time whose lives of faith “bear evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Jesus says to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen but have believed” (Jn 20:29), and this might have been what was necessary for Thomas, but for Jesus, believing without seeing triumphs!   

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