by Fr. Edward Foley, Capuchin<\/em><\/p>\n Today\u2019s gospel relates a well-known tale A reversal whose suddenness and velocity was so spectacular Without a doubt, this gospel is very much about Thomas\u2019 faith, I don\u2019t think Thomas was that \u2013 dare I say \u2013 \u201cshallow.\u201d An episode a little earlier in the Gospel of John comes to mind. Apparently, all of the disciples were nodding their heads But undeterred Thomas unmasks the elephant in the room. Candid Thomas, And my instinct is that it was his long pursuit And how had Thomas evolved as a faith-seeker? One unlikely clue might reside in the very meaning of his name, Just something like 3% of all live births in the U.S. produce twins. Twins have a national twin day \u2013 the 18th of December Such gatherings generate innumerable stories One twin related going down an escalator looked across Another set of twins would always shop for clothes together. Of course, there are endless stories Apart from the funny or embarrassing stories One of the most disturbing was a study of twins<\/a> Without the consent of participants or their adoptive families, The researchers monitored the separated siblings for decades The study abruptly ended in 1990, with records sealed until 2065 Various news reports and documentaries While these films clearly documented the palpable joy Twin expert Professor Nancy Segal concurred I have often wondered what drove Thomas In my imagination, Thomas abandoned the hideaway Thomas had heard the story from Peter He was unconvinced, however, I imagine Thomas long pondered Jesus\u2019 Last supper response I think Thomas had come to have faith through the wounds Thus, he set out on a journey to touch the wounds, And when he finally returned to that apostolic hideaway My instinct is that is why Thomas didn\u2019t need Quite a few years ago, Lapsley was expelled from South Africa 4 years later. In April of 1990, right after the announcement The letter bomb hidden inside religious journals All his senses were altered, including his sense of mission. He said that he always grieves, especially for his hands I understand that it\u2019s Easter, But wounds yet abound: The hard truth and great promise of resurrection, Rather, resurrection offers us the same courage, I think Thomas had come to have faith through the wounds as incontrovertible signs of a resurrection path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":55891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3119,3294],"tags":[3253],"class_list":["post-55889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-ars-praedicandi","tag-ed-foley"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nfeaturing the lectionary\u2019s most celebrated apostolic doubter
\nwho, according to the Gospel of John,
\nengineered a stunning pivot
\nfrom doubter to believer.<\/p>\n
\nit certainly rendered other masters of the pivot
\n\u2013 from snowboarding\u2019s flying tomato
\nto diving legend Greg Louganis \u2013
\nat least slightly envious.<\/p>\n
\nbut it strikes me as na\u00efve to think
\nthat his believing began in earnest
\nwhen he finally came face to face with the risen Lord.<\/p>\n
\nThe gospels actually depict him as quite daring
\nand very unvarnished.<\/p>\n
\nDuring the last supper discourse in chapter 14 of John,
\nJesus is waxing on about him going ahead
\nto prepare a place.
\nHe concludes this part of his speech
\nby saying to his inner circle
\n\u201cand you know the way where I am going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nagreeing to something they clearly did not understand,
\nlike so many undergraduates in their first physics\u2019 lecture.<\/p>\n
\nThe poet Malcolm Guite<\/a> thus deems him the
\ncourageous master of the awkward question
\n“[who] spoke the words the others dared not say
\n\u2026cut[ting] through their evasion and abstraction”
\nby blurting out \u2013 but we don\u2019t know where you are going
\nso how can we know the way?<\/p>\n
\nstraightforward Thomas,
\nguileless Thomas
\nwas a blunt pursuer of truth,
\na discerning disciple of true faith.<\/p>\n
\nof a flesh and blood faith
\nthat brought him to this culminating credal moment
\nrather than assuming that this one individual encounter
\nbirthed his legendary faith.<\/p>\n
\nAnd what might his journey have to teach us
\nabout our own credal pursuits?<\/p>\n
\nwhich at its root means \u201ctwin.\u201d
\nThe New Testament actually doubles down on his twinness
\nwhen it calls him Thomas Didymus,
\nwhich could be translated as Twin the Twin.
\nI think there might be something there worth pondering.<\/p>\n
\nSo, if you are a twin, you are in a very select population.
\nIf you are an identical twin you are .45% of the population
\nA 1 in 250 phenomena.<\/p>\n
\nand are hosted at a variety of festivals.
\nThe largest of which occurs, where else, but in \u201cTwinsburg,\u201d Ohio
\nannually drawing somewhere around 2,000 sets of twins.<\/p>\n
\nof double-takes and mistaken identities,
\nof amusing gaffs and well-planned deceptions.<\/p>\n
\nand saw his twin brother.
\nHe got very excited and yelled \u201chey bro\u201d
\nwaving for his attention.
\nIt turns out, he was waving at himself in a mirror.<\/p>\n
\nTwin 1 would find an item she liked
\nthen twin 2 would go into the changing room and
\ncome out and model for her
\nso she could see how it looked on her.<\/p>\n
\nof twins substituting for each other on dates,
\ntaking each other\u2019s driving exams,
\nand even applying for jobs for each other.
\nI had one such experience teaching at Notre Dame years ago:
\ntwin brothers would often sign each other in for attendance
\nTheir mistake, however, was signing two names
\nwhen there was no identical face in the room.
\nThat practice didn\u2019t survive very long.<\/p>\n
\nof mistaken identities or disastrous dates,
\nthere are also twin tales from the dark side.<\/p>\n
\nconducted in the 1960s and 1970s<\/a>
\nby two psychologists who worked
\nwith a now-defunct adoption agency.<\/p>\n
\nthe agency and researchers
\nseparated twins and placed them with different families
\nnever disclosing that the child had a twin
\nor in one celebrated case, was a triplet.<\/p>\n
\nunder the pretense of ensuring that each was doing well
\nin their respective families.<\/p>\n
\nand only limited information shared:
\none woman discovered she had a twin when she was 49.<\/p>\n
\nBrought the unethical behavior of the researchers to light.
\nFor example, the productions Three Identical Strangers<\/em><\/a>
\nand The Twinning Reaction.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n
\nof twins and even triplets discovering each other,
\nthey also revealed the profound grief and anger that emerged
\nwhen learning about a severed life.
\nOne twin noted that her sister \u201cshould\u2019ve been the closest
\nperson to me in the world, and she wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthat the damage done by separating twins & triplets at birth
\nIs immeasurable.<\/p>\n
\nout of that apostolic cave
\nwhere he had been huddling with the other disciples.
\nI doubt whether he was just stepping out for some fresh air,
\nneeded to pick up some groceries for the boys,
\nor had to check in on his pets.<\/p>\n
\nbecause his twinning impulse, his twinning instincts kicked in.
\nSo, he was out on the streets
\nnot looking for his own biological sibling
\nbut searching out Jesus\u2019 twins:
\nthose who bore in their flesh or in on their souls
\nfresh marks of crucifixion.<\/p>\n
\nabout seeing the resurrected Lord
\nand probably knew the report of Mary Magdalene
\nwho had mistaken Jesus for the gardener.<\/p>\n
\nmaybe because their stories
\ndid not report the scars, the wounds,
\nthe marks of violence that remained even after the resurrection.<\/p>\n
\nto his awkward admission about not knowing the way.
\nJesus answered that he was the way and truth and life
\nand the events of the Friday we call good
\nhad clarified for Thomas that this redemptive path
\nled directly through Calvary.<\/p>\n
\nas incontrovertible signs of a resurrection path.<\/p>\n
\nto stand in solidarity with victims of racism
\non the streets of New York and Minneapolis,
\nto weep with the survivors and grieve the losses
\nin Atlanta, and Houston and Orange,
\nto lament the starvation of children in Yemen
\nand the military oppression in Myanmar.<\/p>\n
\nThomas could profess faith
\nIn a Lord whose body was yet scarred and disfigured
\nBecause he had comforted and consoled Jesus\u2019 twins
\nwho had suffered their own passion
\nand whose souls were thus forever welded together
\nwith the Only Begotten in the sting of crucifixion
\nand the promise of resurrection.<\/p>\n
\nto touch anew the wounds of the risen one
\nfor he had already touched the wounds of Jesus\u2019 twins.
\nThomas recognized the authenticity of the Christ
\nfor his resurrection did not erase the scars of his suffering,
\nnor would it stop the scarring and suffering
\nof all other seeking eternal life.
\nRather, Thomas came to understand
\nthat true resurrection
\nalways bears the marks of both hurt and hope.<\/p>\n
\nI had the opportunity to visit South Africa and Zimbabwe.
\nOne memory that remains fresh is meeting Fr. Michael Lapsley.
\nBorn in New Zealand, he joined a missionary community
\nand was transferred to South Africa in 1973.<\/p>\n
\nHe lived for a while among exiles in Lesotho
\nthen moved to Zimbabwe where he lived with armed guards since he was on a South African Government hit list.<\/p>\n
\nthat Nelson Mandela was to be released from prison,
\nhe received a package from South Africa.<\/p>\n
\nsevered his hands, blinded him in one eye,
\nand damaged his sight in the other.<\/p>\n
\nHis maimed body, however, did not prevent his resurrection.
\nRather, it allowed him to render the bombing a redemptive act.<\/p>\n
\nbut that he is no longer a victim nor even simply a survivor
\nHe calls himself a victor, over evil, hatred and even death.
\nSo claims the founder
\nof the Institute for the Healing of Memories.<\/p>\n
\nand all of us would like to put Good Friday behind us.
\nI understand that it\u2019s starting to feel like spring
\nand we would like to put
\nthis winter of discontent permanently to rest.
\nI understand vaccines are increasingly in the offing
\nand we\u2019d like to stop worrying about this pandemic
\nand get back to the living we remember.<\/p>\n
\nin the victims of violence
\nwho will forever carry the scars of their assaults;
\nin the millions of school-age kids
\ndisfigured by disrupted learning and peer isolation;
\nin the unemployed
\nwhose deformed finances and mutilated careers
\nmay never recover;
\nand in the grieving:
\nthose innumerable family and friends
\nwhose lives will have an unhealable ache,
\nwhose hearts have an unpatchable hole
\nbecause of a beloved lost to COVID.<\/p>\n
\nas our spiritual twin Thomas understood all too well,
\nis that rising from the grave does not erase nail marks,
\nvacating a tomb does not vacate the pain of violence and loss,
\nand conquering death does not remove death
\nfrom our future agenda.<\/p>\n
\nthe same zeal,
\nthe same faith as our sibling Thomas
\nto touch the wounds,
\nacknowledge the scars,
\nand in doing so recognize the resurrected one in our midst,
\nwounded yet Risen,
\nour promise and our hope,
\nwhose mission we pledge to continue
\nforever and ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"