Second Sunday of Easter 2026
Most of us know the name Helen Keller. What is sometimes
forgotten is the moment when her world first opened.
As a small child, Helen Keller lost both her sight and her hearing.
Without language, she lived in a kind of silent isolation. Her family loved her
deeply, but they could not reach her. Words had no meaning yet. The world
around her was a blur of sensations without names. Then a young
teacher named Annie Sullivan entered her life. Sullivan began patiently tracing letters into Helen’s palm with her
finger. She would spell a word—doll—and then place a doll into the child’s
hands. Again and again, she repeated the process: word, object… word, object.
At
first, it meant nothing. Then one day
they stood beside a water pump. Annie Sullivan placed Helen’s hand under the
flowing water and slowly spelled into her palm the letters W-A-T-E-R. Suddenly something changed.
Helen Keller later wrote that in that moment the world opened to her.
She realized the movements in her teacher’s hand were not random gestures. They
were names. They connected her to reality. From that moment on the world around
her began to make sense. A human hand had helped her touch the truth of the
world.1 Our
focus today remains on the Easter moment, only it is a week later in gospel time.
The primary focus person in this account is the apostle, Thomas. There have been other focused characters from
other Easter gospels such as Mary Magdalene, the two men on the road to a mess,
or John and Peter, but Thomas is in a way unique among that group. He is louder and more demanding. He is
more cautious and unsure about committing himself without tangible proof.
On Easter all the Apostles and disciples, except
for Thomas, encountered the risen Lord in one way or another. They are overjoyed and they are feeling very
special that Jesus appeared to them. Obviously,
Thomas is both upset that he is the exception and perhaps questions why Jesus did not wait until he was present to make his
appearance to the apostles. Indeed, we
might ask- “Why didn’t Jesus wait until Thomas was there?” Why
didn’t Jesus find Thomas wherever he was and appear to him on Easter Sunday? Why was Thomas left in the dark and only
heard about Jesus’ resurrection second-hand?
Of course, we cannot answer such questions or as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the
Romans: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of
God! How inscrutable are his judgments
and how unsearchable his ways! “For who
has known the mind of the Lord*
or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34). Have we ever been in similar situations to
those of Thomas where we too question God’s manner of responding to our
prayers? Have we ever questioned whether
we can place our trust in God’s promises of being faithful to us? Perhaps these events that Thomas
experienced have occurred in this sequence in order to prepare for future
generations, who also needed to deal with their faith in Jesus and his resurrection. Many generations hence would also have individuals
who have their doubts or questions or need more proof concerning a personal
encounter with the risen Lord. So, in
many ways, Thomas becomes the “saint for doubters,” or for those who would like
to believe, but feel, like him, they need more proof. Also, Thomas may be a kind of intercessor for people who want to believe but need a way of
connecting to the Lord in order to
accept trusting in his ongoing presence in their lives. We too, may be persons who like Thomas needed resurrection not to be
just an event that others reported, but for resurrection to be a personal encounter
with an individual, the risen Lord.
Helen Keller was a lot like Thomas. She was locked into a dark room by the loss
of her sense of sight and hearing. She
has no way of understanding her world. Just
like us at times when we have no way of understanding what is happening to us or
why things are happening the way they
are in our lives. She could only make the connection between
herself and the outer world after many, many attempts by Annie Sullivan to connect her to that outer
world, and to the truth that was all around her and waiting for her. When Helen does finally make that connection between the substance of water and
how to communicate that reality between herself and others, the door of her
darkness are unlocked and suddenly the world is alive with possibilities. When
Thomas is able to see the Lord, as risen, to see the wounds as proof of his existence, not
as a ghost but rather as a real person; then his faith and understanding come
together and there is acceptance of the reality that is standing right in front
of him. What would it take for us to
accept that God is for us, with us, beside us? This
second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, our readings invite us to ask ourselves what questions if any,
do we have for the Lord in order to accept his presence in our lives? What
proof would we want or need in order to
substantiate our faith in Jesus’ ongoing presence in our life? Perhaps we would say “We need no proof." but
is that the complete answer or are their still questions, connections we need between
ourselves and Jesus, in order to increase our faith to point that we too can
say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God”?
(John 20:28). Are we willing to state, in
prayer, these doubts, these connections that we need, like Thomas did? Many
generations have called Thomas, the Doubter, but Thomas just needed proof,
living proof, to make the connection between his mind and his spirit.
A connection that would allow him to accept resurrection as a person and not
just as an event that others reported. So, our readings ask us what do we need? What do we really need to increase our faith,
our trust in the Risen Lord?
1.
Voicings.com
