Second Sunday of Easter

Youth Ministry has asked our youth leadership team to begin reflecting on the Gospels.  Parents are encouraged to work their children in this process, diving deeper into an exploration of the faith together​.  If you are a parent of a high school youth and you or your child is interested please contact Gabe at gabet@stcharlespdx.org. Resources are available to help guide you.   Check in to the bulletin and the Church website to keep up to date with youth reflection on the Gospel

Mylie Madrid
​Youth Reflection
4/18/2017
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In this reading, it tells you of when Jesus has resurrected and the disciples have seen him and they received the Holy Spirit. The only one that wasn't with the group was Thomas, and he doesn’t believe that what they say is the truth. But when he does see Jesus, he says "My Lord and my God". One thing that is shown in this passage is just the normal "human reaction", and how we need proof in order to believe. It took Thomas to see the wounds in Jesus's hands and feet in order to believe. That is very similar to how it’s like in our life; we need to have proof of something in order to believe because if you try to believe without an interaction with anything, you will lose hope. 

 We learn threw experience, without that it will be an aimless faith. Therefore, we need to have an interaction in our religion. We need to be opened up by community to make that change, just as the disciples tried to do to Thomas, and that is why we need to be a welcoming parish. We can all relate to Thomas, that is why we can learn from him. He was cautious and didn't want to be hurt again or be trapped in something that wasn't true, but little did he know, the great news was true.
       There are definitely different reasons why one does not want to believe for each stage in their life: a child might not fully know what is going on, a teen might think it is not worth it, an adult might not have time. There are many other reasons people won’t believe, like they have family problems, they had a great loss, they don’t think they're worth it or they just don’t want to be hurt, and they get angry at God.  But that is exactly when we should fully believe, when we are at one of the lowest times in our lives. That is where Thomas was wrong. He thought after Jesus died it was all over, and yet He resurrected from the dead and came to them to say that He will always be with them. That God will always be with us. When the disciples experienced this, they would always have this hope in God. And when we believe with all or hearts then we grow as a person and as a community.  
       It will be harder for us because we don’t have Jesus right in front of us, teaching us, and if Thomas didn't believe at first when Jesus was right in front of him then God will definitely give us some slack. We just need to be open and ready to accept what's greater than us because God will always be with us anyways, so make it a two-way relationship. That is what I believe we must learn from this passage, and it doesn’t matter the age.