For eight days we celebrate Easter as though it were one day: that is the meaning of celebrating a feast with an octave. And so this second day of Easter finds us in a differing array of belief. The apostles did see him and believe in him as Lord on Easter Sunday night – all except Thomas – when he came a stood in their midst as they cowered in the upper room – and he said to them: "Peace be with you! My peace I give you!" This was his reaction to their disbelief and their running away from him a few days earlier when he needed them to stand by him as a friend the most. PEACE BE WITH YOU!
Some just won't ever believe – but not because the information was not available to them. It will take many until Pentecost to come to finally get the entire picture about Jesus. And then from that day onwards many thousands will come to believe – and not only believe, but live their daily lives like Jesus was making a difference in them. This past weekend hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were added to the rolls of believers at the Easter Vigil.
May we this day reflect upon how firmly we believe in the presence of Christ Risen! His dead human body was not just resuscitated – it was rather transformed into a newness of life in which we will all participate one day at our own resurrection from the dead: it is a life where the mind, body and spirit are all working and functioning together optimally – and it is all raised to the spiritual dimension. It is a newness of life that is even now contained in transubstantiated bread and wine at Mass
Thank you Jesus for modeling the Way, the Truth and the Life: which includes dying, rising and living forever! And thank you for making yourself available to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Let our sharing in your presence in this way motivate us today to live as you would have us – like you yourself did – being compassionate and merciful, loving and helpful to others.
This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it!
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