Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

Clergy Page

Reflection -   Week of April 27, 2025

Question of the Week:

Where and when do I recognize Christ’s wounds in the body of Christ? What can I

do to heal those wounds?

     John’s Gospel does not tell us why Thomas wasn’t there the first time. Perhaps he was grieving in his own way and wished to mourn Jesus alone. Everyone responds to grief differently. He may have imagined that seeing the others would make the loss more real. Or perhaps he was more fearful of the religious authorities than the others and felt that even a locked room wasn’t safe. Perhaps he was so discouraged that he wanted to abandon his faith just as he had abandoned Jesus on that fateful day. What we do know is that he came the following week and without even making good on his challenge

to feel Jesus’ wounds, he believed.

     It is significant that Jesus returned with his wounds intact. Not only hadn’t they healed, they were just as visible and palpable as on the day he was taken from the cross. Even after he had been raised from the dead, brought to heaven, and returned to appear to the disciples in his resurrected body, he retained the wounds inflicted upon him on the day he was crucified. The Body of Christ, which we receive in the Eucharist, which is made manifest in the Church, is also physically wounded, remains physically wounded. These very real wounds continue to be present today in our sinfulness, in our suffering, and in those in need. How necessary is the gift of divine mercy we receive from one who remains wounded himself!