WeThese days and weeks following Easter Sunday, my friends, are opportunities for us to see and meet the risen Jesus ourselves in the experiences of our daily lives.

St. Thomas’ defiant words in today’s Gospel invite us to do what he insisted on doing, and that is to probe the wounds of Christ, just to make sure He really did rise from the dead.

Now that might seem outlandish to us since, after all, Jesus ascended back to His Father in heaven.  But probing the wounds of Christ is not as far-fetched as we might at first think.

When we remember that we all are members of His Mystical Body, as St. Paul teaches us, then the prospect of seeing and meeting the risen Jesus wounds, nail marks, and all becomes more real.

And those wounds are found in the endless cycles of violence and poverty that surround us.

Just this past week, we crossed over the 4,000 mark of the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Who knows how many Iraqi’s have been killed?

There’s still the problem of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and bin Laden is still on the loose, threatening more terrorism. 

How about the terrible injustices and inhumane things going on in Darfur?

How about the racial, gender, and age discrimination that still prevents members of the Body of Christ from having equal opportunities for work and meaningful employment.

Yes, there are American laws on the books which are supposed to prevent these sores and wounds. But too often too many employers find ways around those laws.

Then there’s the street violence that plagues all cities and counties in America.

It’s always been there, in one form or another. And it always will be, because people commit sin and make wrong choices.

We find the sores and wounds of Christ in the poverty that surrounds us.

Recently there was a study about the poverty rates in Erie County. And the results were alarmingly high, especially among children.

Our county, state and federal prisons are filled to over-capacity, and last week so was our juvenile detention center up at Edmund L. Thomas.

Jesus said in the Bible that the poor and the oppressed we shall always have with us. And of course, we know that to be true.

But that doesn’t mean we should fatalistically ignore it.  No, our challenge every day is to do something about these instances of violence and poverty.

We have to pay attention to the opportunities God gives us to probe the wounds of Christ’s Mystical Body and then help to heal them, or at least lessen the pain.

One opportunity to try to make a difference is election day coming up. Too many people are talking about wasting this opportunity.

There are websites we can go to just to send general communications to our troops overseas to boost their morale.

We can support Catholic Relief Services which rushes aid to people stricken with sudden calamity.

We can re-sensitize ourselves to the faces of discrimination and loudly call it out by name whenever we see it going on.

We can stand-up against street violence by joining and supporting a Neighborhood Watch Group.

And there are plenty of ways by which we can help the poor, our St. Luke’s Food Pantry being a fine example.

So these are some real ways by which we can probe the wounds of Jesus and his Mystical Body.

As we do, let us be prompted to reach, at least for a band-aid, or whatever will help to relieve the sore.

And let’s not forget to pray that the band-aid will work.

After all, we have to keep God involved too!

       Thank you.