Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for Sunday, April 27, 2025

Thank you for filling our church (and our hall) for liturgies during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday. It was a blessing to speak with so many of you who brought family and friends to worship with us. I pray that sharing Easter with us helps you to deeply feel the joy of His resurrection and to develop a closer relationship with Jesus. May you feel our Lord’s presence in your lives today and every day. May you always feel welcome here at St. Edward the Confessor.

The resurrection is the foundational truth of our faith. Yet, some people have a hard time believing in that truth. In today’s Gospel, we hear about Thomas who refused to believe that Jesus rose from the dead even though 10 of his closest friends told him that they had seen Jesus and had spoken with Him. Why would Thomas doubt their testimony? Did he really think that they were making up a story?

Thomas’s reaction is a great example of our human tendency to doubt things that are not “normal.” We seek “logical” or “proven” explanations for unusual events that are out of our control and beyond our frame of reference. However, in first century Galilee, there were no readily available explanations for a man rising from the dead. Thomas had nowhere turn to except to his own eyes, ears and touch. Thomas needed to control the moment when he could see Jesus and touch Him.

But our faith is most firmly rooted in unlikely truths that are not, and can never be, within our control: Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus left us the gift of his true body and blood in the Eucharist, Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus invites us to join Him and His Father in the Heavenly Kingdom. It is unlikely that we will be as fortunate as Thomas who had all of his doubts resolved a week after he expressed them to his friends. It is unlikely that Jesus will greet us in the flesh and resolve our doubts. Nonetheless, we must hold strongly to even the most unlikely truths of our faith.

It is a privilege to serve all of you who call St. Ed’s their spiritual home during this Easter Season and throughout the year. May God richly bless you!

Fr. Mike