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"Doubting Thomas," as tradition so remembers the Apostle, would not believe the others who said they had seen the Lord three days after He died. It was not enough for him to hear they had seen someone who looked like Jesus; he needed proof that the Lord they saw really was the same Jesus who had died.

The identity of the dead and risen Jesus is one and the same. Thus, when Jesus appears in the Upper Room a week later, He shows Thomas His wounds, which somehow are still visible - and palpable - in His risen body. This is no ghost, no hallucination - and, for that reason, Thomas saw and believed.

The reality of the resurrection for Jesus Himself brings very important consequences for all of us as well - for our personal resurrection. As the divine person He is, Christ's redemptive suffering and death releases us from the effects of sin, including death itself.

This means that, if we believe, we will also rise as Jesus did, body and soul. When we die, we do not become angels. We retain our identity in a way as real as Jesus presented Himself to Thomas.

If that is the case, then what we have suffered and how we have suffered in life is part of who we are in our redeemed and resurrected state, too. The marks - the scars, so to speak - remain, but not the pain. Through the power of Christ's death and resurrection, what was ugly will somehow become beautiful, beatified by God's grace.

Another way of saying this is to affirm that all can be forgiven for those who seek God's mercy, but not all will be forgotten. Many good people struggle with the extent of God's incredible mercy, even toward the worst sinners - if they are repentant.

It is very difficult to forgive those who have hurt us deeply. "How can I just forgive and forget," many say - and they are right. Even if you forgive, it is hard to forget. It is psychologically almost impossible. A fact done cannot be undone and a memory cannot easily be erased.

I can't help but think how this core mystery of our faith - the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - forces us to confront sin and pain like the ongoing suffering of those so deeply scarred by sexual abuse. The wound of systemic, institutionally-harbored sexual abuse leaves a scar not only on the abused, but also the abusers - indeed, the Church itself.

In order to be a mother for all sinners, the Church must be forever vigilant, sustaining and present especially toward those vulnerable to and wounded by all forms of abuse. To be fully and credibly alive - to respond to the "Thomas question" - the Church must proclaim and live the Gospel while still bearing the wounds inflicted by sinners, including those of its own.

Sometimes, the scars are so ugly that it is difficult to imagine the mercy and healing that still flow from the Body of Christ in the sacramental life of the Church.

The Lord reminded Peter of his own betrayal three times and commanded him, "Feed my sheep," even as He showed Peter those wounds in His risen body, the consequences of Peter's sins and those of others. It is only possible for a Church - and those ordained to carry on the mystery of Christ's presence in word and sacrament - to fulfill its promise if they, too, bear the wounds of the risen Lord.

Yet, from these wounds, life may spring, for they remind all of the horrible and painful reality of sin even in the Church herself, redeemed by the light of God's merciful forgiveness, forever born as a reminder that, without a Savior, there is no hope for redemption.

A Church that can at once bear witness to that hope for everyone, while suffering with those who bear the wounds of its own sinful patterns of action or omission, can witness to the world in its own body what led Thomas to faith: that the dead and risen Christ are one and the same.

There is no sin-inflicted wound, ultimately, that cannot be healed so long as we do not hide, deny or ignore it. Everyone can come to the cross and be saved.

No one can face the resurrection without beholding the sacrifice of the wounded healer. No one can be forgiven by the wounded healer while forgetting or denying the wounds inflicted on His body by sin. Remembering the wounds will only enhance the breadth and depth of the mercy.[[In-content Ad]]

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