Fr. Eric Tellez: Thank with me the many times you and I have made decisions based on the testimony of other people. This happens all the time. Is this a good school to send my kids? And you'll say, well, people have told me it's a good school. Should I apply to this school?
Because I've been told it's a good school. How about an item that I wanna buy? I wanna move into this neighborhood. I wanna ask people, is this a good neighborhood to believe in? And the people that talked to me have said, yes.
We even do that with food. Everyone is saying this new place that's open, the food is great. So I'm gonna trust them and take my friends there and we're gonna try it because based on what they said, it's a place that we need to go. How easily you and I will make decisions many times based on the testimony of other people, where we know them or not. And yet, when it comes to belief in God, belief in the practicing of our faith in this community, we hesitate.
We're not sure if we trust the testimony because we don't wanna listen in the same way. This is what's happening in today's gospel with Thomas. The disciples are all gathered the first time and Thomas isn't with them. And of course, we know how the story goes that Thomas is there the second time. Thomas represents all the second generation Christians who did not see the risen lord with their own eyes.
He represents them unlike the other disciples who saw firsthand the risen lord. And so I think it's understandable that he didn't see on his own that he struggles with that. And you know who understands? Jesus. Jesus meets with great mercy and talking with him and reminding him and showing him that, okay, you can believe now because you've seen, but remember all the other people who come to faith based on the testimony of other people.
And so what this says then is that the story isn't finished because only does that in other words, he we don't know whether he touched the wounds of Jesus or not, but we do know he said these powerful words, my lord and my god. And so what this tells us then is that resurrection can be tangibly proven through the life of the community. The people who gather together to pray, who follow the teachings of the apostles, who break bread together, who serve other people in need, and who live and fulfill the commandments of God. This is a tangible proof that there is resurrection. But resurrection isn't always tied in with the perfection of the community.
Because here's the question that I have for a lot of people and maybe you do too. How can we have faith and resurrection in the midst of
Fr. Eric Tellez: an imperfect community? Community that struggles with sin, with brokenness,
Fr. Eric Tellez: with things that are not of God. And so why should you and I believe in the testimony of fellow
Fr. Eric Tellez: parishioner or a church community? Because they're not perfect.
Fr. Eric Tellez: And here's what we learn is that this is a struggle that's real for many people. Should I keep going? I don't, I don't like all that way that people are living. And yet, we need to understand the resurrection of Jesus did not happen because everything was fixed. In other words, Jesus is made known.
He appears to the disciples because there's no more brokenness. There's no more struggle. And yet resurrection breaks through through what? Denial. It breaks through through doubting.
It beg breaks through through persecution. Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and of course, Saint Thomas, all the ones that's what's going on in the community. So we understand that perfection is not where resurrection is found, but resurrection works through the imperfections of this community of all who claim to follow Jesus and to be made present. Here's what we can remember. First of all, we need to be rooted in Christ, not perfection.
Let me repeat that. We need to be rooted in Christ, not perfection because resurrection comes out of our woundedness. What does
Fr. Eric Tellez: the risen Christ show Thomas? His wounds.
Fr. Eric Tellez: You'd figure if you were risen from the dead, if you were raised from the dead, they would go away. That's how you and I would see healing. Hey, those woundedness are no more. They got over it. No more trauma.
No more horrible way to live. So that should all be healed. I want this new body, this risen body. And yet for some reason, the risen body has the wounds
Fr. Eric Tellez: of the nails and the stabbing of the side. And I think what it shows us then is that we can carry our brokenness because, for some reason, it's not taken away every time.
Fr. Eric Tellez: And Jesus shows us that through his own wounds that are not totally removed. The second thing is community is in process, not finished. This imperfect community, this community that struggles with sin and misunderstanding and things that are not of what God wants. This community is in process. It's not finished.
The resurrection is not an event and historical event that we all celebrated last Sunday and say, yeah, two thousand years ago, Jesus died for our sins and that's a nice history thing. So let's remember like other historical dates as well. Resurrection is not just a historical date we remember, but rather it is ongoing. Whenever you and I forgive other people, that's resurrection breaking through. When we rebuild trust that has been broken in relationships, that is resurrection breaking through.
And when we have patience in bearing with one another,
Fr. Eric Tellez: that is resurrection. And I think
Fr. Eric Tellez: it helps us to remember when you and I are dealing with the church, and out of our mouth comes all the problems and all the things we don't like, and we see what struggle the church struggles. It's this, that our brokenness is not failure, but unfinished resurrection. The brokenness that you and I see and have in our lives is
Fr. Eric Tellez: not failure. It is unfinished resurrection. You see the difference?
Fr. Eric Tellez: That's a different way to live. The other thing is we choose hope in concrete way. Resurrection invites us to be people of hope, so it's not giving up too soon on other people. It's living and speaking truth with charity. Notice that Jesus doesn't demean and belittle and shame the disciples, and you and I know he has every right to do that.
They all abandoned him. They all said, let's get out of here. None of them were really at the cross, only a few people. And so he would have every right to not be charitable. And yet Jesus shows us then that sometimes we give up too soon, but we always have to do truth with charity.
And we stay present even when things become uncomfortable. Things become uncomfortable in living in your own family. And the same happens with this parish family, this community called Christian community, that happens as well. And it calls us to remain steady and present in the midst of uncomfortable things that we hear, that we don't like or agree with, that causes to do that. That's what resurrected people do.
And
Fr. Eric Tellez: we do resurrection habits to to avoid cynicism. Resurrection
Fr. Eric Tellez: habits are things that we do to avoid cynicism. Because here's where Jesus calls us that we have a choice, to either be cynical or either be compassionate. That's our option. Those are the two options in really being an imperfect community that can give powerful testimony to the resurrection to our faith. Cynicism or compassion.
That's our choices. And so in the early church, it struggled. Look at the scriptures. They dealt with the vision, with jealousy, with misunderstanding. And yet the scripture still calls that imperfect community the body of Christ and so are you and I.
Imperfection becomes the place where grace works. You see a different mindset rather than saying,
Fr. Eric Tellez: hypocrites, I can do better in my life.
Fr. Eric Tellez: Then you'll never come to understand the working of resurrection. God brings life not after brokenness is
Fr. Eric Tellez: resolved, but God works through our brokenness. God doesn't make life visible to us after our brokenness is resolved, but God works through our brokenness to be resurrected people.