Our third Sunday of Easter has another Gospel account of a resurrection appearance; just like last week when Thomas touched the wounds on Jesus’ risen body, this account also features those wounds. The “eleven and their companions” at first believe they are seeing a ghost when Jesus appears suddenly in their midst. So Jesus says, “look at my hands and feet, that it is I myself.” The Jesus who suffered and died is the same Jesus now alive, resurrected. What a profound lesson for us. We take our wounds with us into eternal life. We ought not try to get rid of them because our wounds have helped to make us who we are. Through accepting them, as Jesus did his wounds, and forgiving those who dealt them to us, like Jesus did, we become holy. It is difficult to do the spiritual work of acceptance and forgiveness of our wounds. It takes a lifetime. As we become better at it, we begin to be able to witness to others that the tragedies of life are gateways into a resurrection life.
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia