Do you know your greatest strength? That is where you are most vulnerable. Has your greatest "strength" become your most insidious weakness?
"Doubting" Thomas shows us the way to escape the quicksand of being duped by our own strengths. After hiding behind his own "strength" -- his commitment to Jesus' earthly ministry of signs and wonders -- Thomas had the humility to accept Jesus' offer of forgiveness and love when Jesus appeared before him. When confronted by the risen Christ, Thomas confessed "My Lord and my God" without touching that resurrected, glorified body.
Thomas responded in faith to Jesus' offer of love and forgiveness, to Jesus' demand that he "not doubt but believe" in the resurrected Christ. Thomas allowed himself to be "weak" enough to accept the fact that his "strength" had become his potential for self-destruction.
Christ's gift to Thomas -- to all who believe -- empowers us with the genuine strength of redeeming love brought through absolute grace. Instead of "show-me" signs, God offers us the unmerited gift that we can never earn nor never learn in rational, logical terms: the love of Christ.
