When you’re absent, when you’re unable to be at something that you should in fact be at, when you’re sick, when you have responsibilities that make you choose one event over another event, in all of these cases, you know you are missing something.  Sometimes, you can miss a lot.  You never know when the big discussion is going to happen.  You never know when they will make a big decision without you.  You never know when you’re going to miss a life-changing event or opportunity.  I think that this is why I hate to miss things.  Because I know my luck, and I know that if I can’t be at something, that’s going to be the meeting, or the event, or the class where something big is going to happen.  This comes from a long history of when I was in school.  I missed very few days of school when I was a kid.  And it was because I was always afraid of what I was missing by not being there.  What material would the teacher cover that would be on the test later on?  Whose birthday was it and what would they bring in for a treat?  Later on in Jr. High and High School, it was about who started dating who and who broke up with whom.  There’s always so much going on in our world, you don’t show up, you miss out.  I know that’s why there’s always some kid with perfect attendance in school.

      We don’t know WHY Thomas was missing for that first Resurrection appearance.  Maybe he was sick.  Maybe he was in bed with a 103-degree fever.   Maybe he was playing hooky.  Maybe his wife wouldn’t let him out with the boys.   Maybe he had to work.  Maybe he was afraid.  Maybe someone died and he had to go to a funeral.  Maybe he just wanted to play golf that Sunday night.  We don’t know.  What we do know is, that for whatever reason, Thomas was missing when all the other Apostles were gathered together in that room, and Jesus, formerly the dead guy hanging on a cross, came into a room that had all the doors locked.  The Gospel is fairly specific here.  Jesus wasn’t a ghost.  He had flesh and blood.  His wounds were visible.

I mention this, because we hear about Jesus coming through locked doors, and we think of Caspar the Friendly Ghost.  Jesus was not a ghost.  He had a Risen body.  We don’t know how He got His risen body through solid wood doors, but He did.  Would you ask questions of a clearly dead guy that’s now come back to life?  The Apostles were a lot less concerned about how He got into that room, than what they were about the fact that He was in that room.  And Thomas missed it.  This wasn’t like missing a vote, or a beautiful prayer experience, or maybe his favorite snack.  Thomas missed seeing and experiencing the Risen Jesus!  He could have been there.  He could have put his finger into the nail holes and his hand into His side.  He could have gotten to be one of the first witnesses to perhaps the greatest thing to ever happen in this world.  But he wasn’t there.  And we know the story.  Jesus comes back a week later, a week after that first Easter, and Thomas is there, and Jesus gives Thomas a second chance.  Why?  It is because it is the only way that Thomas is going to believe.  It is the only way that Thomas is going to have Faith.

       The Gospel reminds us that we don’t have to see or touch to believe and have Faith.  Jesus says, “Blessed, Blessed are those who believe WITHOUT seeing or touching.  But, you know, so many times we do have to be present, we have to be there.  God has so much in store for each and every one of us.  Ever wonder how many times we miss out on the Risen Lord, all because we weren’t there?  How many times have we not come to Mass and missed out on just the right message that we needed to hear?  How many times have we NOT volunteered for that ministry or that service, and then missed out on exactly what God had in store for us?  How many times have we failed to attend that retreat, or that class, or that penance service, or that hour of Adoration, and just like St. Thomas, we missed out on seeing that exact part of Jesus that we need to see to have Faith?   My brothers and sisters, we don’t want to miss out on anything!  God gave St. Thomas another chance.  How many times do you think God is going to keep giving you other chances?  We need to take advantage of what He’s offering us.  We have a great and merciful God Who wants to reveal Himself to all of us, Risen and Alive!   What are we doing to let Him?  That’s not going to happen at home in bed on Sunday morning.  That’s not going to happen if we never get our rears into that Adoration Chapel.  That’s not going to happen if we don’t make time and space for God in our lives.  And we want to blame God.  The problem is not God.  The problem is us.

        As we continue to celebrate Easter, let us make ourselves available to His grace and power.  There are miracles happening all around us.  You don’t want to be absent when they happen!

May God bless us,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!