(Acts 2:42-47; Ps.118:1-4,13-15,22-24; 1Pt.1:3-9; Jn.20:19-31) "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Jesus comes to the disciples, repeatedly appearing to them after His Resurrection, to make certain there is absolutely no doubt in them: "Do not be unbelieving, but believe." He invites them even to put their fingers in His hands and their hands into His side. To Thomas He speaks, yes, but them all He teaches. For He is commissioning them to go forth in His name in word and sacrament to bring forth life to souls who are dying, to preach the salvation from sin by His resurrection from the dead. "Peace be with you," He says to His Twelve. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And so He breathes on them the Holy Spirit, giving them power even to forgive men's sins. Now, those to whom they shall proclaim that God "in His great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" will not have had the benefit of seeing the Lord. And so, how can one expect them to believe just by the word of another if the speaker of that word is not completely convinced of its truth? Their witness, their commitment, must extend even to the grave – as it shall – if it is to go beyond the grave. And the strength of the apostles' witness and the fruit it has borne – which, in turn, becomes a faithful witness unto others – is greatly evident in our reading from Acts. Here we are told the first disciples "devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers." Sharing all in common, their lives were centered on daily prayer and the Eucharistic meal, the feast of thanksgiving. And "with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people," they lived their lives in truth, they lived their lives in faith. What Peter ascribes to the disciples of Christ we find in these: "Although you have not seen Him you love Him; even though you do not see Him now… you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." How effective his and the other apostles' witness has been. Brothers and sisters, "His mercy endures forever." The apostles' words reach down to us this day and the sacraments of their hands are still in our midst. And so "the joyful shout of victory in the tents of the just" we too should know. We too should sing, "My strength and my courage is the Lord, and He has been my savior." Though the Church has been made to suffer persecution and been dispersed to the ends of the earth, this is but to bring the Word forth, and through all suffering to make it perfect within us. For ultimately the kingdom is not in this place; heaven we cannot completely see. Only faith will lead us to the Lord's risen presence. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "What Do You Think?/Open, No Horizon" (first part) from All One, sixth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let us make our home in the nail marks of your hands and the wound in your side that we might rise to new life. YHWH, how great is your mercy toward us! How great the wonders that come upon us through your Son, our Lord. For He reveals your ineffable presence to us, taking from us all hardness of heart come from doubt and sin that our eyes might be opened to your glory, that we might enter into your joy. He has been rejected that we might be accepted. His hands and feet and side have been pierced and He has died that we might rise with Him from the grave. All our sin He would take from us, and so He leaves this power with His apostles and with the descendents of His apostles, who, though they have not seen Him yet have His Spirit breathing upon them to accomplish His merciful will in our midst, to reveal your merciful love to us, O LORD and God. O let us fall at His feet! Let us proclaim His divinity. Let us join as one in prayer and in the breaking of the Bread in His Name. O LORD, let us be your blessed disciples and so know your salvation of our souls. Alleluia!