Lasting Joy and Change
Julián Carrón - “On the evening of that day, […] Jesus came, […]. And the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” This was the disciples’ experience every time Jesus revealed himself alive to them: they were filled with joy. For them, the resurrection was not merely an affirmation, a doctrine, or a statement, however true. It was much more: an event that filled their lives with joy when they saw Him alive. They experienced the resurrection personally. What a difference there is between understanding the resurrection as a doctrine and witnessing it transform us! This is easy to understand when we compare hearing a definition of love with experiencing it as an event. Falling in love, being overwhelmed by a presence, feeling loved, and discovering the value of the beloved’s presence—so that we overflow with joy—helps us grasp the definition. A definition of love, however true, leaves us unchanged, alone, empty, and sad. Although we may acknowledge its truth, the definition fails to make love feel real, actual, or present.
Each of us can reflect on this Easter week to examine our own experience and discern what happened. We celebrated Easter, participated in its rituals, and exchanged Easter greetings. In light of this, each of us can ask: Did I live this week overflowing with joy, touched by the presence of the living Christ, or did I spend it as if nothing had happened, treating Easter as something familiar, taken for granted, without experiencing the disciples’ amazement—those who saw, encountered, and were transformed, their lives filled with joy? If Christ does not manifest as a living presence, He is not truly Himself. He is alive! There is no other Jesus than the living, risen One. There is no room for mourning; everything is invested in Him. “I am [...] the Living One. I was dead, but now I am alive forever,” we heard in the second reading from the Book of Revelation.
We see this in Thomas. He, too, hears the announcement: “He is risen.” But hearing this statement does not change him. He must experience what the words proclaim! Thomas needs to encounter the reality to grasp the full truth of that announcement. This is the contribution Thomas offers us, as St. Gregory the Great explains: “What, brothers, do we see in all this? Do you attribute to pure chance that the disciple chosen by the Lord was absent, and that when he came he heard the fact, and that hearing he doubted, and that doubting he touched, and that touching he believed? No, this did not happen by chance, but by divine arrangement. The Lord’s mercy worked in a wonderful way, for that disciple, with his doubts, while touching the wounds of his master’s body, healed in us the wounds of unbelief. Thomas’ unbelief has benefited our faith more than the faith of the other disciples. For while he is brought back to faith by touching, our minds are strengthened in faith by overcoming all doubt. Thus, the disciple who doubted and touched became a witness to the truth of the resurrection. He touched and exclaimed, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, Hom. 26, 7-9; PL 76, 1201-1202).
Pope John Paul II echoed this in 1994 to the young people of the Diocese of Rome: “I think that many of your friends, your peers, have this empirical, scientific mentality; but if they could once touch Jesus closely—see His face, touch the face of Christ—if they could encounter Him through you, they would say, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (Jn 20:28). Is such an encounter possible?
By entering the lives of those who welcome Him, Jesus shares His power to give life and raise it up. We heard this in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which recounts the apostles’ ability to transmit life to everyone they met, thanks to the presence that enveloped and transformed them. “Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the apostles. […] Believers were added to the Lord, a multitude of men and women, so that they even carried the sick into the streets, laying them on beds and stretchers, so that when Peter passed by, at least his shadow might cover some of them.” This is what so many people await: that our risen lives may heal those we encounter. “The Church,” Pope Francis has repeated, following Pope Benedict, “grows in the world through attraction, not proselytism” (Homily at the Opening Mass of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops, Aparecida, 2007).
St. Augustine said that Christ reveals Himself by drawing us to Himself. To illustrate this attraction, he quoted the poet Virgil, noting that everyone is drawn to what they love. Jesus not only persuades our will but captivates our hearts (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 26:4). “If we follow Jesus, happy to be drawn by Him, others will notice. And they may be amazed. The joy that shines through those who are attracted by Christ and His Spirit is what can make our lives fruitful” (Pope Francis, Message to the Pontifical Mission Societies, May 21, 2020).
Second Sunday of Easter – Year C
Notes from the homily by Julián Carrón, April 27, 2025
(First reading: Acts 5:12-16; Psalm 117 (118); Second reading: Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; Gospel: Jn 20:19-31)
