Last night, I was hanging some curtains in my son’s room. His bunk bed was in the way so it made it difficult to hang them because I had to stand at an odd angle.
My son was in the room listening to me grunt and mutter under my breath at the difficulty. When I was done, he said jokingly, “Was that the hardest thing you’ve ever done?”
I said, “No, of course not.”
He asked back, “What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?”
“Given birth to you and your sisters.”
He got serious and said, “Sydney is the only one with a scar, though.”
What he meant by that is that she is my only child that was born by c-section and, therefore, I have a scar on my body because of it.
As I was reading about the Apostle Thomas this morning, I thought of my son’s response. “Sydney is the only one with a scar.”
In his young mind, a scar confirms that pain occurred, something hurt. Because he and my oldest don’t have scars on my body, which would prove the pain I went through for them, he struggled to believe his birth could have been that bad.
When I was younger, I often wondered why the risen Jesus still had His wound marks. Why not a glorified body wiped completely clean of all evidence of what happened?
There are some people, like St. Thomas and my son, who need to see the truth of what has been endured for them. It brings it home. For St. Thomas, Christ’s scars proved that He was God beyond all doubt and had conquered death. For many, seeing the scars depicted through the crucifix helps us to understand the love Christ has for us.
Thankfully, Catholic Pilgrims, Christ always finds a way to reassure our hearts when they need to “see.”
Have a blessed Monday.
St. Thomas the Apostle, pray for us!
