16 April 2020
Thursday in the Octave of Easter
In today’s gospel, the resurrected Jesus shows the apostles his hands and his feet. The correlation of course was clear, Jesus showed the marks of his crucifixion so the apostles could make the connection between what they knew had occurred and what they saw standing before them. Making the connections between what has occurred, and a real flesh and blood reality has been the occupation of many of the saints in our Catholic faith. I am not referring to those saints that received the stigmata. Instead we can recall those men and women who made the connection between the life, death, and resurrection of Christ by their own work by showing us Christ’s real presence here and now. Just as Christ showed his wounds to the Apostles to demonstrate who he was, so many men and women of our faith have demonstrated that same Christ by works of heroic charity. We recall the work of St. Teresa of Calcutta who identified the body of Christ in the destitute and dying, or St. Jeanne Jugan who instituted the Little Sisters of the Poor for the destitute aging. Just as Christ showed the apostles his wounds in order to demonstrate his real presence, the saints of our faith have looked to the wounded and broken of this world and helped us to see the Body of Christ. Thanks to so many witnesses to the resurrection in all ages, our faith is made real by how these men and women show us the Body of Christ.