Tag: john20:25

Posted in APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, EASTER, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DOUBT, QUOTES on FAITH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 7 April – ‘ … He entered, all the doors being shut!’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 7 April – “The Month of the Resurrection” – Low Sunday, The Octave Day of Easter – 1 John 5:4-10, John 20. 19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“We have seen the Lord.” – John 20:25

REFLECTION – “While hiding in a house, the Apostles see Christ; He entered, all the doors being shut. But Thomas, who was absent at that time… shuts his ears and wants to open his eyes … He bursts out with his incredulity, hoping, in this way, his desire will be answered. “My doubts are not going to disappear until I see Him,” he says. “I shall put my finger in the marks of the nails and embrace this Lord of mine Whom I long for so much. Let Him reproach my lack of faith but let Him satisfy me with sight of Him. For now, I am unbelieving but, when I see Him, I shall believe. I shall believe when I clasp Him in my arms and gaze on Him. I wish to see the holes in those Hands which have healed the hands of Adam’s wrongdoing. I wish to see the Side which cast out death from mankind’s side. I wish, be my own witness, to see the Lord and another’s testimony is not enough for me. Your tales aggravate my impatience. The joyful news you bring does nothing but stir up my turmoil. I shall not be cured of this sickness, unless I touch its medicine with my own hands.”

The Lord appeared again and dispelled both the sadness and the doubt of His disciple. What am I saying? He did not dispel his doubts, He fulfilled his expectation! He entered, all the doors being shut!” – Basil of Seleucia (Died c468) Archbishop (Sermon for the Resurrection).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who have celebrated the Paschal Feast, may, by Thy bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behaviour. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, EASTER, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 16 April – Shut doors!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 16 April – “The Month of the Resurrection” – Low Sunday, The Octave Day of Easter – 1 John 5:4-10, John 20. 19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“We have seen the Lord.” – John 20:25

REFLECTION – “While hiding in a house, the Apostles see Christ; He entered, all the doors being shut. But Thomas, who was absent at that time… shuts his ears and wants to open his eyes… He bursts out with his incredulity, hoping, in this way, his desire will be answered. “My doubts are not going to disappear until I see Him,” he says. “I shall put my finger in the marks of the nails and embrace this Lord of mine Whom I long for so much. Let Him reproach my lack of faith but let Him satisfy me with sight of Him. For now, I am unbelieving but, when I see Him, I shall believe. I shall believe when I clasp Him in my arms and gaze on Him. I wish to see the holes in those Hands which have healed the hands of Adam’s wrongdoing. I wish to see the Side which cast out death from mankind’s side. I wish, be my own witness, to see the Lord and another’s testimony is not enough for me. Your tales aggravate my impatience. The joyful news you bring does nothing but stir up my turmoil. I shall not be cured of this sickness, unless I touch its medicine with my own hands.”

The Lord appeared again and dispelled both the sadness and the doubt of His disciple. What am I saying? He did not dispel his doubts, he fulfilled his expectation! He entered, all the doors being shut!” – Basil of Seleucia (Died c468) Archbishop (Sermon for the Resurrection).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who have celebrated the Paschal Feast, may, by Thy bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behaviour. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, I BELIEVE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FAITH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 21 December – ‘ … Do you think that it happened by chance …?’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 21 December – Feast of St Thomas, Apostle of Christ, Martyr – Ephesians 2:19-22, John 20:24-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The other disciples, therefore, said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in His Hands, the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into His Side, I will not believe.” – John 20:25

REFLECTION – “What, dearest brethren do you notice in this passage? Do you think that it happened by chance that this chosen disciple was absent at that time and afterwards coming, heard the news and hearing, doubted that doubting, he touched and touching, he believed? This did not happen by chance but by Divine dispensation. For the Divine clemency brought it about, in a wonderful way that the doubting disciple, while touching the wounds in his Master’s flesh, should thereby heal the wounds of our unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more to our faith, than the faith of the believing disciples. While he is brought back to faith by touching, our minds are set free from doubt and established in the faith.

So the Lord indeed, after His Resurrection permitted His disciple to doubt but He did not leave him in unbelief; just as before His birth, He wished Mary to have a spouse, who, however, never attained to the married state. The disciple who doubted and touched his Risen Lord, thus became, a witness to the truth of the Resurrection, just as the spouse of His Mother was the guardian of her inviolate Virginity. Thomas touched and cried out: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him – Because you have seen me, you have believed. But since the Apostle Paul says – Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things which appear not; it is certainly clear that faith is the evidence, of those things which cannot appear. The things which appear are the object, not of faith but of knowledge.

Why then is it said to Thomas, who saw and touched – Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed? But he saw one thing and believed another. Indeed, mortal man cannot see the Divinity. So Thomas saw a Man and confessed Him to be God, saying: My Lord and my God. He, therefore, believed through seeing, for, looking upon One Who was truly Man, he cried out that this was God, Whom he could not see! The words which follow are cause of great joy to us: Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed. These words are meant especially for us, who cherish, in our minds, Him, Whom we do not see in the flesh. They are meant for us but only if we carry out our faith in works. For he truly believes, who puts his faith into practice!” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope. Father and one of the original four Doctors of the Latin Church (Sermon on the Feast of St Thomas).

PRAYER – O Lord, grant us, we beseech Thee, to glory in the Feast-day of blessed Thomas, Thy Apostle, that we maybe helped continually by his patronage and imitate his faith with a devotion like his. .Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).