 |
| Give Your Radiance to Someone |
We are living in a world of doubt. People do not
believe in anything until they are verified. They want to see, touch, taste and
feel the things before they believe something to be true. This world of doubt
can be attributed to St. Thomas the apostle. When other apostles shared what
they saw, felt and experienced about the Risen Lord, Thomas did not believe. He
said “Until I have seen in his hands mark
of the nails and my hands in his side, I will not believe (Jn 20:25).”
Thomas could not imagine that Jesus could come in through locked doors and
thick walls moreover; he could not believe that man who is crucified to death
could rise and come alive. It was unbelievable mystery for Thomas. His reaction
was such that the other apostles were speechless and unable to convince him of
the truth.
The fact that doubting Thomas is the apostle of
Jesus shows us that Thomas had a unique place with the Lord. Therefore we
should not be disappointed when we come across people those who doubt the
existence of God, the power and work of God. We need to remember that they too
have a unique place with the Lord. We should not be ashamed to talk to them
about Jesus Our Lord. We should be like apostles who talked about Jesus. The follower
of Christ we should testify Christ before others irrespective of their
responses, with the belief that God will look after the result. We see prophet
Jonah just had to go to Nineveh and proclaim “forty days more Nineveh will be destroyed.” (Jon 3:4) all the rest
God did.
After testifying apostles were unable to respond to
Thomas’ doubt. Later we see Jesus himself takes over the situation when he
appeared again after eight days. He called Thomas and cleared all his doubt.
The inner eye of Thomas was opened and was able to see the glory of God. As a
change of heart he exclaimed “my Lord
and my God” (Jn 20:28). The word of God calls every disciple of Jesus to
testify freely the God experience. When we share our God experience with others
God already starts working with the person we are sharing.
One of my
friends said to me “I am still a Catholic and believe in God only because of my
father’s testimony of God experience”. He said that, he had no faith in God and
was living an atheistic life. He trusted in science and believed only in
scientific verifications. He was a critic of religion and their practices. He
doubted the existence of God. His father was a captain in the ship. One day his
father came drunk and began to talk to him about his God experience in a ship.
His father used to read bible before going to sleep. On that particular day
when he was about to go to bed he opened the bible to read but there was a
strong urge in him to go and wash himself. Half heartedly as he was going
towards the washroom he heard the sound of bullets hitting to the window. A
bullet came and touched his face without making a deep wound. The pirates had
attacked the ship. In friction of time they were inside his room. Immediately
he had to surrender them. Finding no precious thing on the ship they went away.
After narrating this incident his father went in and brought a bible which was
torn by the bullet. He removed out a portrayal of Jesus from the bible pointing
out the hole made by the bullet on the chest of Jesus, he said to him, “Today
you have a father because my Lord took a bullet on him”. This changed my friend
completely, from then he believes that Jesus is God and saviour.
His father testified his God experience to his son. It
was a living experience. Through his God experience God transformed his son.
God calls every one of us to be courageous and share his experience in our life
to others. We shall share our Lord to everyone irrespective of their religion,
position, gender etc. believing that God is already at work in them and
transform their life.
An elderly priest said to me acknowledging the power
of God in his life “I do Gods work and rest things follow itself.” The word of
God says, “Whoever acknowledges me
before others I will acknowledge before my father in heaven. Whoever rejects me
before others I will reject before my father in heaven” (Mt 10: 32).
Therefore let us take courage to testify our God experience with others
irrespective of their position in the society. We need to respect all because
everyone has a unique place with the Lord. Apostles have given us a good
example to follow. They were not ashamed to share their experience to others.
In the Gospel according to St. Mark we read the words of Jesus, “I tell you; if anyone is ashamed of me and
of my words among this adulterous and sinful people, the son of man will be
ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. (Mk
8: 38).
We all pray that God will give us his grace not to
be ashamed of him but to proclaim him to others in full conviction and faith.
Br Amresh DSouza OP
