As we enter into the Third Sunday of Easter
we hear once again of “disbelief” or “unbelief” or just plain “uncertainty” as the disciples encounter the Risen Lord and wonder if what they see is “real.” We know that the disciples and apostles needed some kind of “proof” and many searched for something in the here-and-now to connect with their faith beliefs.

Jesus gives his followers this “here-and-now”
moment when He tells them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I Myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” Jesus provides them an opportunity to see and to touch, to connect to their faith in some very human way. Jesus is not afraid of our doubt.

Many of us do doubt, from time to time, about some aspect of our faith. Perhaps we have prayed for someone to be cured of an illness and yet they died or their illness has not abated but rather continues or even gets worse--and we ask “where is God?” Doubt enters into our minds and hearts and we falter in faith.

In today’s gospel Jesus not only invites the doubting disciples to come closer and to touch Him,
to see Him as He is--alive--but He even then joins them in a meal, something of which a ghost would have no need. Jesus calls them to understand the Scriptures--to come to know their faith--and not just what faith says they (we) are to do or not do, but why we are called to be His disciple. To truly know our faith beliefs and to have them inform our hearts and our wills.

Today’s Scripture lessons are most applicable to our world and to our very lives. We too are
presented with opportunities to doubt our faith.Hollywood movies and movie stars tell us that faith is antiquated and “neanderthalish.” Government leaders and courts rule against faith more often than not--wiping away individual responsibility and replacing it by the “state” or collective action; music, television sitcoms and video games desensitizes us from care and concern for the others by elevating the self, “me-ism” and violence to new heights. All of this brings more and more doubt into our lives, causing us to question longstanding traditions and beliefs as
outdated or obsolete. It isn't any wonder that we wander and doubt. But the answer to doubt is not to ban it but rather to invite the doubt into public discourse and to call all discussions into open and honest debate. For in our Catholic faith we hold that the Word of God is Truth, with a capital “T,” and that any and all investigation into the Truth will only--can only--lead to Truth.

In listening to a commentary on the readings this weekend, a priest talked about this idea of the
human need to connect to faith in the here-and-now, and he likened an experience he had at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where tourists at this most sacred shrine at the tomb of the Lord took photos and videos. At first it bothered him that there was such little reverence for the sacredness of where they were...well, I have had similar experiences when folks are standing up and clicking cameras or iPhones at First Holy Communion Masses or Confirmation Masses. It just seems so out of place to turn what is sacred into a photo shoot. But then, we must realize
that like the disciples who had to touch and see” the wounded Risen Lord, so too we need touchstones of our experiences of faith. We need to deepen what we believe to be with real life experiences. Thus the photos and videos, I guess.

While these photographic moments may not be one inspired by doubt, the same purpose is
satisfied: deeper faith is brought about by the memorializing of the lived-experience at that
Moment in time, and perhaps this connection to the faith may lead us to a deeper understanding. So click-a-way at the next First Communion or Confirmation Mass, just not at the Consecration,