Pastoral Letter: Thomas and the Price of Love

Dear Sisters and Brothers –

Again, a blessed and happy Easter!

This second Sunday of Easter, we hear the story of St. Thomas, too easily identified as “Doubting Thomas” on account of today’s Gospel story. As we know, however, Thomas is the one who rallied the others when Jesus decided to return to Bethany where his life would be in danger: “Let us also go to die with him.” Perhaps Thomas more than the others understood the price of love.

Thomas is also key in the moment in the Last Supper when Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them. When Jesus says that they know where he is going, Thomas questions this: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can you say that we know the way?” Jesus responds, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” My Jesuit friend Mike Moynahan writes, “Thomas, fearing the loss of a friend whom he loves, wants directions on how to get to Jesus’ new address. Jesus loves Thomas’ capacity for intimacy, his desperate desire to be with the friend whom he loves.”

Then there is today’s Gospel story, which inspired retired United Methodist pastor, musician, and poet Steve Garnaas-Holmes to write his poem Unless I Touch the Wounds:
 

Unless we embrace another’s suffering,
and have forgiven the deepest wounds they have caused us,
we have not fully loved them.
Suffering itself is not redemptive.
But reaching out to another in their suffering,
and forgiving one who causes you suffering
is the place where love happens.
Resurrection does not remove suffering;
it transforms it from a wall into a doorway.
With Thomas we reach out to the wounds of the world,
receive forgiveness, and learn to love.

I particularly like this piece because it reminds me of the role I might have in another’s experience – or lack thereof – of the resurrection. How I love others, how I extend to them mercy, compassion, kindness, forgiveness is a constitutive element of resurrection continuing to happen in the lives of others and in our world.

I do want to express our collective gratitude to the scores of people who helped us to pray so beautifully and reflect so well throughout Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. They planned and prepped and worked for months in order that the various events and liturgies of these holy days be beautiful. And they were! They touched our hearts and souls, and they were a means by which we encountered the Lord as the Lord seeks to come to us. Please join me in praying in thanksgiving for and for the intentions of all the women and men, girls and boys who contributed anything to our celebrations, from the tying of the first palm branch to the pews for Palm Sunday to the putting away of the last table after the Easter egg hunt and hospitality on Easter Sunday. Parishioners, friends and staff alike – may God bless you 100-fold!

Speaking of staff, I’d like to introduce our newest staff member, Will Lowry. Will joined us two weeks ago as our Communications Coordinator. He comes to us with more than a decade of experience in communications work in non-profits, including Ploughshares Fund and the Sierra Club. In his interviews, we were excited about his ideas of how to partner with parishioners to get to know you and to support your work and ministries. We are also excited about his creativity, his initial ideas about communications at St. Ignatius, and his enthusiasm for our mission. Welcome, Will!

Finally, as I type, hammers are clanging on metal as the scaffolding staircase rises from the ground at the northwest corner of St. Ignatius Church. It’s incredibly exciting! The restoration project is scheduled to take 14 months, so our church will take on the look of many centuries-old churches around the world when they are restored, both inside and out. The scaffolding will be installed in phases over the next number of weeks. Nota bene: This coming weekend will be the last weekend we will see the interior of our church without scaffolding. All the stained-glass windows will be removed within the month, then shipped to Chicago for restoration. That process will take until next February, and the scaffolding will remain in place until the windows are reinstalled. Please keep this exciting project in your prayers, especially the safety of the workers.

And, as always,

oremus pro invicem.

Fr. Greg