The Incredulity of St. Thomas, Frankish Miniaturist, Psalter, 1279
News and Scripture and Links for Service and Quotes for Reflection
The 8:00 AM Sunday Eucharist will be celebrated in-person in our Sanctuary.
The 10 AM Sunday Eucharist will be celebrated on Zoom and in-person in the Sanctuary this Sunday.. Music by Fr. Ron
The Taize' service takes place in the Sanctuary on Sunday at 5:00 PM
The Church building is open , from 9AM - 5PM, Monday - Friday, for anyone who would like to stop in for a prayer or time of quiet.
We are sad to inform everyone of the death this past week of Joan Russo, a longtime member of our community. She had been residing in an assisted living community in Connecticut.
Interment in St. Joseph's Garden will take place at a later date. Please keep her family in your prayers.
We Pray for the Healing & Support:
For those who have lost loved ones in the Pandemic, for those who are ill, for all those who serve, for all those who are anxious or fearful, and for...
Barbara Brigham, Sara Mundy, Jean Adams, Kathy Cogan, Jim Fancher, Diane & Nancy Fickett, Bob Fisher, Sharon Gibbs, Kathryn James, Gillian Johnson, Halle Kneeland, Toni Landry, Jesse Marshall, Ruth McAlonen, Elizabeth Mooney, Madeline Moran, Dick Petry, Virginia Springsteen, Vita Stellke, Linda VanArdale, Beth Wagner, Georgia and Rod Griffis, Betianne Morritt's great grandaughter Eliana, Jean Brechter , Susan Bopp daughter of Jean Brechter's friend Bob Edwards, for Louie Cicero, Barbara Allen Lieblein' s grandsons, Kristopher and Alexander, and Bob Lieblein's grand daughter's husband, Matt Grzesik, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, Hermance Canning, Dr. Barbara Phillips-Cole and her son Matthew Cole, who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer, all our parishioners living with cancer, known or undetected & for all those who participate in a 12 step group here at St. Mary’s
Call in any requests or corrections to the office. (631-749-0770)
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Khanna Kristen Doubting Thomas
Sunday Scriptures April 11, 2021
We believe that Christ is risen and alive. What does that faith mean to us? Is Jesus so much alive to us that we can meet him personally in prayer, listening and speaking to him as a friend to a friend, heart to heart? Do we touch his wounds in those wounded in life whether in their bodies or their hearts? Do we encounter him in our own sorrows? Do we encounter him in our joys and the joys of our friends? Is he alive in our Christian community, and do we encounter him there? Let us pray to the Lord in this Eucharist that he may be real and alive to each and all of us.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The First Lesson One Heart and One Soul
The early Christian communities strongly believed that the risen Lord was alive among them. Because of this faith, they were “one heart and one soul” and shared with the needy. Do we too have this faith and love?
Acts 4:32-35
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
The Epistle A Life of Faith and Love
Those who believe in God and in his risen Son Jesus Christ also love their neighbor. They belong to God’s family, just as we do, even though at times we find them strange relatives.
1 John 1:1-2:2
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
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The Incredulity of Thomas, Andrea del Verrocchio, 1476
The Gospel From Doubt to Faith
For people like us who have not seen the risen Christ, John tells us the story of doubting Thomas who became the believing Thomas.
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 hands 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.
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Some Quotes for Reflection
With a kindly countenance our good Lord looked into his side, and he gazed with joy, and with his sweet regard he drew his creature’s understanding into his side by the same wound; and there he revealed a fair and delectable place, large enough for all mankind that will be saved and will rest in peace and in love. And with that he brought to mind the dear and precious blood and water which he suffered to be shed for love. And in this sweet sight he showed his blessed heart split in two, and as he rejoiced he showed to my understanding a part of his blessed divinity, as much as was his will at that time, strengthening my poor soul to understand what can be said, that is the endless love which was without beginning and is and always shall be.
– Julian of Norwich 1342-c.1416
Showings, ch.24, Paulist Press,p.220-221
Thomas has insisted upon personal contact and even a kind of physical intimacy – placing his finger and hand into Jesus’ wounds. Instead, he is given something different which is more personal and more intimate: the interior “touch” which is unitive experience of the Spirit. Blessed are those for whom this spiritual contact suffices; they shall be rich in the fullness of the Lord’s interior presence, and in the purity and strength of their faith. …
The passage from one kind of knowledge to another, from the knowledge of external sight to the knowledge of union, to which Jesus has led these disciples – and last of all Thomas – corresponds to his promise, “…you will see heaven opened…”(1:51). It is this initiation into the final unitive knowledge of God which is implied also in the final verse of John’s prologue:
No one (ie. not even Moses; see 1:17) has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, who has made him known (1:18).
Or, more graphically, “…who has opened the way” … The promised opening of the heavens is accomplished in the opening of “the Father’s bosom” to those who believe in Jesus. This opening of the interior sabbath of God’s rest to humanity is symbolized by the opened bosom of Jesus …This is the promised “place” (14:2-4), promised land and paradise. These convergent spatial images, however, all refer to a relationship which is non-spatial, non-dual and beyond all images: the simple divine union.
-Bruno Barnhart, Camaldolese
The Good Wine: Reading John from the Center
The meeting is called a meeting on the eighth day because it opens toward what cannot be reached simply by more days like those of the seven-day weeks we have known. In the meeting on the first day there is an opening toward the day beyond days, toward the last day of God. It is the eighth day because Christians have met “eight days later” (John 20:26) down through the ages. That meeting has always meant for them the encounter with the risen one and so with the end of death and the endless cycles of loss. To encounter Christ risen is to encounter God’s spirit and God’s mercy, things that have been promised for the last day when God’s dwelling is to be with humankind and tears are to be wiped away. Christians believe the eighth -day meeting is already the dawning of that day.
The eighth day is the beginning of a new creation.
-Gordon W. Lathrop
Jesus invites each one of us, through Thomas,
to touch not only his wounds,
but those wounds in others and in ourselves,
wounds that can make us hate others and ourselves
and can be a sign of separation and division.
These wounds will be transformed into a sign of forgiveness
through the love of Jesus
and will bring people together in love.
These wounds reveal that we need each other.
These wounds become the place of mutual compassion,
of indwelling
and of thanksgiving.
We, too, will show our wounds
when we are with him in the kingdom,
revealing our brokenness
and the healing power of Jesus.
-Jean Vanier
Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John
The mother can lay her child tenderly to her breast, but our tender Mother Jesus can lead us easily into his blessed breast through his sweet open side, and show us there a part of the godhead and of the joys of heaven, with inner certainty of endless bliss.
-Julian of Norwich
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P.O Box 1660, 26 St. Mary's Road , Shelter Island, NY 11964
(631) 749-0770
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