Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  To believe in him means to know how to read, to grasp, his many signs in our midst. 

We read, as we come to the end of today’s gospel, “Jesus did many other signs.”  So then, we can take it that his rising from the dead is one of these signs.

And to read this sign of his rising from the dead, the greatest of all signs, means to grasp this truth: the one who has risen cannot but bear the marks of wounds on his hands and side. Also, the sign of his rising from the dead points to peace. That is to say, we are to read, in his greeting of peace, the great mercy he shows us. For he forgives us though we are not true to him time and again. Though we run away and deny him and leave him when he most needs us.

Besides, as he stands in our midst, he means to be our light and courage on our dark nights. And when he breathes on us the Holy Spirit, he brings about the new creation. The new life of peace and forgiveness.

And, yes, there are many other signs in our midst that we should know how to read and grasp. That is why we have, like St. Vincent, to keep our eyes open. We cannot tire of praying and asking what the Lord would do if he were in our place (SV.EN XI:314).

To read his signs also means to go forth and seek the least of his brothers and sisters. After all, he sends us. And their wounds are his, too. Hence, we are to welcome strangers, immigrants. And if we keep our eyes open, we soon find out that most of them are not sex traffickers or dealers of fentanyl. Nor do they poison the blood of the United States, but rather replenish it.

Lord Jesus, help us to read the signs you do in our midst today, so that we may welcome those who bear wounds like yours. Make us grasp that we who share in your Supper cannot let those who have nothing go hungry nor can we shame them without failing to discern your Body. And turn our communion, our sharing of goods and all the good works that we get to do, by your grace, into signs that will help others to believe in you, though we and they do not see you, but only your signs, and thus we can overcome the world of selfishness and greed.

7 April 2024
Second Sunday of Easter (B)
Acts 4, 32-35; 1 Jn 5, 1-6; Jn 20, 19-31