Eight station
The Risen Christ strengthens the faith of Thomas 

 

C. We adore you Christ Risen, and we bless you.
T.   For with your Easter you have given life to the world.

1L.  From the Gospel according to John
One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"  Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe."  A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them.  The doors were locked, but Jesus cam and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."  Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Stop your doubting, and believe!"  Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"  Jesus said to him, "Do you believe because you see me?  How happy are those who believe without seeing me!" (20,24-29).

2L.  From doubt to faith
Thomas saves the atrocious doubt in his heart:  could it be?  And facing the others he has irony on his lips:  all stories, general hallucinations.
His doubt and irony are providential because they cured our doubts, our easy ironies.
"Come her Thomas,"  the Risen says, "place your hand, reach out your hand."
The doubtful but honest man gives in; yes, it is really him, the Teacher.  The light of the Spirit does the rest:  the burst of faith is expressed in the adoration:  "My Lord my God."
Faith is the secret of youth.  It is to bet on the inconceivable knowing well that God is something else.  It is to accept the mystery.  That doesn't mean to give up reasoning but to reason high and forward.  Faith is believing in the sun when it is dark, in love when living in hate.  And I jump, but in the arms of God.  With Christ everything is possible.
"Without Christ", a young man says, "I can no longer live.  I can even die as long as I am with Christ."
This is the radical attitude of the believer of the year 2000.  In front of Christ that keeps telling him:  "I am the way, the truth, the life,"  he answers:  You are my way, my truth, my life.  I am yours because I am truly your body.   You are force of life.  You are joy of life.  You are the goal of my life.  I know who I trust."
Today is a time of weak thoughts, mediocrity, low profile:  time of faith crisis.  The youth are called upon to pass from the task of thermometers of a feverish world to that of thermostats of a fervent world.  And even sooner we must take the step from the culture of the myths to the cult of the destinations.
And the destination that gives meaning to everything is faith, taste and color of every initiative.  "You have given us so many means of life, we were expecting a reason for living."  This is what the Swiss youth wrote in 1978 on the shutters of the big banks.
The reason for out entire lives is the faith in the God of life, the certainty that when everything falls, he doesn't.
The word iuvenis (young) comes from iuventus - says Isidoro of Seville - and iuventus from iuvare.  Not only do the youth rejoice with their continuity of life in the world, but most of all, with their faith, at the awakening of the world, at the quality of life of the world.  They are the fresh salt.  They are the new light.

T.  Rejoice, Virgin Mother:  Christ has risen.  Hallelujah!

C. Let us pray.  Oh risen Jesus, every day we say to you in faith:  "My Lord and my God."  Faith is not the noon of vision.  Faith is not easy but it makes us happy.  Faith means to trust you in the darkness.  Faith is entrusting ourselves to you in the trials.  Lord of life, raise our faith.  Give us faith that is the root of your Easter.  Give us trust, which is the flower of this Easter.  Give us faithfulness…, which is the fruit of this Easter.

T.
  Amen.

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