A Message from the Dean
Dear Cathedral Family and Friends,
We won’t be calling this “Low Sunday” this year. And that’s not because of relative attendance after Easter Day. We won’t call this “Low Sunday” because we need more Easter right now. We need every one of the Great Fifty Days of Easter to celebrate the great truth of the Resurrection.
Sometimes this is also called “Thomas Sunday,” in honor of the doubting one, the disciple who refused to believe in the Resurrection until he had seen and touched Jesus for himself. Jesus accommodated Thomas, and then said, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
It’s easy to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by bad news and dire forecasts for the future. It’s easy to let doubt and distrust rule the day. But that is not the life Jesus calls us to live.
Jesus calls us to live the new life of reconciliation—peace between God and humanity and the end of estrangement among all people. That requires trust and willingness to live our faith even when we can’t see the outcome we hope for.
I hope that you are continuing in your practice of daily scripture reading and prayer to strengthen your faith. I hope that each of us is doing what lies within our capacity to help others and to be encourages. And I hope that you will continue to join together from all our separate places to worship on the Lord’s Day.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Faithfully,
Beverly+
The Holy Gospel John 20:19-31
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hand and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
"The Incredulity of Thomas"
Oil, 1602, Caravaggio
Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Potsdam, Germany