The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord."So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
Personal Challenge...
The human will is a strong thing. Here we see Thomas, one who knew Christ well, walked with Him, saw Him perform His miracles, choosing to doubt His ability to defeat the hold of death. Our Lord loved us so much that He created us with the ability to believe and the ability to doubt.
I love how Olivier Clement puts it...
UNITING DIVINE AND HUMAN WILLS
“As we read in the Prologue of John, there is light, but there is also darkness. God’s omnipotence is in love. And since love cannot be imposed without thereby denying it, this omnipotence—capable of creating beings that can reject it! - is also ultimate weakness. It can act only through human hearts that freely allow its light to shine through them. God respects human freedom as he respected that of the angels. But in order to keep that freedom from succumbing to the darkness, He becomes incarnate and descends into death, into hell, so that there could be a place where the will of man might unite itself to the divine will. That place is Christ. In Christ, the human will became painfully and joyously united to that of the Father. In the Risen One, seated at the right hand of the Father, the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Olivier Clement, Three Prayers: The Lord’s Prayer, O Heavenly King, Prayers of St. Ephrem, pg. 24) (Thanks to Fr. Ted Bobosh and this entry in our parish bulletin.)
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