TWELFTH MEDITATION FOR LENT
And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said: "Peace be to you." Then he said to Thomas: "Put in thy finger hither and see my hands. And bring hither the hand and put it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing." (John 20:26-27)
Is not this a loving condescension? How our Savior must have loved this incredulous Apostle to use such strong and loving means to convince him! The sole sight of this opened Side inflames the heart of this Apostle with love. Jesus Christ comes to us daily in the Blessed Sacrament; He gives us this same Body, we find these same wounds; in fine, He gives us His Heart, He makes us touch It, and this Heart and all the fire with which It is inflamed, has not been able to inflame our hearts! With what coldness people retire after receiving Holy Communion! Their hearts are frozen in the presence of this burning love! The faith and new fervor of St. Thomas rejoiced the Heart of Jesus Christ extremely; but what must be His sentiments at our insensibility and little faith! What should I myself think of it?
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
Is not this a loving condescension? How our Savior must have loved this incredulous Apostle to use such strong and loving means to convince him! The sole sight of this opened Side inflames the heart of this Apostle with love. Jesus Christ comes to us daily in the Blessed Sacrament; He gives us this same Body, we find these same wounds; in fine, He gives us His Heart, He makes us touch It, and this Heart and all the fire with which It is inflamed, has not been able to inflame our hearts! With what coldness people retire after receiving Holy Communion! Their hearts are frozen in the presence of this burning love! The faith and new fervor of St. Thomas rejoiced the Heart of Jesus Christ extremely; but what must be His sentiments at our insensibility and little faith! What should I myself think of it?
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
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