“Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles”.

“The people held them in great honor”.

“Believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both men and women”.

When I read or listen to the Acts of the Apostles, I feel great astonishment when I think of the change in the attitude of the apostles. The apostles mentioned in the first reading are the same who had run away for the scandal of the cross and they are the same who were locked up in a house, with the fear of being arrested and killed by those who had crucified their Master. They are the same people as before, with their human limitations, prisoners of their own fears. But something has changed in them. What happened?

The apostles experienced the encounter with the risen Christ and received his Spirit. They had really risen with him. They regained life and courage, began to go out from that place in order to announce the Gospel everywhere. Their preaching, their new way of life encouraged many people to start a journey of faith.

Jesus entered through closed doors, entered the fears of that group of people, their shyness, their inconsistency, their sin, their sadness. He entered and stood among them, he was at their level, he did not look down on them, he did not enter there to punish them and not even to blame them for having abandoned him. I imagine him entering with a big smile. He entered with words of peace and love, entered and showed the signs of the crucifixion, signs of God’s crazy love for them. He entered and breathed on them as the Creator did with the earthen puppet who became a living being, Adam.

The story of Thomas’s experience is really beautiful. I don’t know your opinion, but I like Thomas.

John the Evangelist does something a little strange. He tells us that the apostle Thomas was called Twin. Actually John translates the name Thomas (that means twin in Aramaic) into Greek language for everyone to understand. The Gospels do not speak of a twin of Thomas, maybe it was only a nickname. I like to think that each of us is Thomas’s twin that we look like him.

Believing is not always simple; sometimes we struggle, especially in the face of the great trials of life. Many times we want to touch, see, sometimes we challenge God, we want to see immediately the result of our prayers, and sometimes we could reduce our spirituality to a desperate research of extraordinary things. And Jesus knows Thomas! And Jesus knows everyone of us! And Jesus allows Thomas and his current twins to see, to touch. But it is essential don’t stop at this level but grow up toward a mature faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”. This is a gift of God, favored by our availability to accept this gift that transforms our life. The beatitude is for us, for those who struggle, for those who grope for, for those who do not see and stumble, for those who start again. We too will be able to profess our faith as Thomas did: “My Lord and my God”. This is the most beautiful profession of faith of the whole Gospel.

Brothers and sisters, unless the Lord Jesus grants us to be able to see him extraordinarily in a vision, in a dream, I think it is very difficult to see and touch him as Thomas did. So, where can we meet him to experience him and change our lives?

• In the Christian community. Jesus manifests himself here, when the community is summoned to celebrate the Eucharist. He continues to give us his Word of life, continues to give up is life every time we break the bread and pours the wine, his body and his blood. He gives us strength, help, grace.
• Every time our sins are forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we encounter Jesus. Today is the day of Divine Mercy. Let us remember the daily possibility to reconcile with God and consequently with our brothers and sisters.
• We encounter Jesus Christ when we touch his wounds in the wounds of poor, marginalized, sick, people. We touch the flesh of Christ, said Pope Francis, when we take upon ourselves the suffering for the poor, when we take care of them. “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).

Brothers, sisters, many signs performed by Jesus were written in the Gospel of John but we are going to experience many other signs in our life. Christ is risen, Christ is alive, “he is the first and the last, the living one”. “His mercy endures forever”!