“It was the first day of the week

II Easter sunday (John 20,19-31)

“It was the first day of the week”... what week? Because the confinement we are living in makes us lose track of time. Most of the world is in confinement, with doors closed for fear of contagion, illness and death. Now the only enemy is called: Coronavirus. Yes, the virus and its worldwide spread is new, but the world was already wounded, engendering poverty. Living among the poor of various nations, we discover the weight of the domination of some and the dependence of others, the social and economic inequalities. We measure the consequences of hunger, unemployment, violence, migration.. This disease has made the situations we face or are witness to even more difficult .

And this is where Jesus came in. He always takes the initiative. And He entered our homes, our communities, and this closed world. His word: “Peace be with you”… How He knows our restlessness, our anguish, the anguish of our heart… He showed us His hands and His side. And we knew it was Him. Because these were the signs of His passage through this world doing good, they were the consequences of His journey as an Incarnate Word, as a Servant, as an Envoy of the Father who gave His life to save humanity and gather it into a people .

The Risen One is the Crucified One, this is the truth of our faith, His mystery. The crucified are the risen ones. And we rejoice to see Him. As so often we have rejoiced to contemplate – after situations of death – in our people, in our communities, in our own lives the signs of His active presence, the Good News of Salvation, in which He has the initiative.

Yes, on that day, as if we were being born again, as if the world was being created again, His Spirit blew and we experienced that we were returning to Life. That night, fear, death do not have the last word. We experienced that His Life was running through ours and that it was not a time of division, nor of selfishness, nor of violence, nor of indifference… In His peace we were sent again…

And we go out to applaud in gratitude every evening, to phone those who live in solitude, to communicate messages of encouragement and meaning on the social networks, to try to bring out the best in us in our daily living together, to creatively encourage the liturgy, to pray for the sick and the dying, to take care of ourselves… Our lives, open to His Presence, let forgiveness and reconciliation flow.

Thomas was not with us and although we told him that we had seen the Lord, he needed to make his own experience. Are we that different? For Peter, so stubborn at other times, it was enough now to believe by looking at the tomb and seeing the canvases. And for Mary Magdalene, however, she needed to be named by the voice of her beloved. Jesus does know about cultural diversity and personal processes… I asked Him to make hospitality grow in our world, in our communities, in me… until an even greater hospitality is born: that of the recognition of the work of God in each one

Jesus returned eight days later. The reality had not changed, we were still in confinement, welcoming the moment of each one. But there He was, in the center, wishing us again the gift of peace.

“Come, Thomas, and put your hand in. Touch me, that’s what you need to believe.” Perhaps we all have something of Thomas in us and even need it because it is by sharing the joys and sufferings of the poor that we learn to let ourselves be converted by the Gospel . Love needs to touch. Proximity, in suffering, creates indelible bonds and a joy that tastes of glory when you feel that a friend, that a sister has been saved. This is why the Resurrection also has its own names and places where we have been able to confess: My Lord and my God!

“Everything will be all right”, said the signs on the doors of the houses when the confinement began. It’s a way of saying:

“Happy are those who believe without having seen!”

Because, without knowing how this story will end, we already glimpse the final triumph of good pushing so that it can be. Perhaps the whole of Creation – beyond what we can imagine – has the Resurrection inscribed in its womb.

Charo Martín Pérez Little Sister of the Assumption – Cartagena-Spain