Commentary on the Gospel according to
John 20,19-31; April 4-2021.

How to be or become follower of Jesus Christ in the world and in our own situation
Doubt is human and in every believer can and often does arise a doubt of Faith. In fact, Jesus says to the incredulous Thomas:
«Because you have seen me, you have believed; Blessed are those who did not see and believed! ».

For one of my cases, which I have already told in a conversation and San Gerolamo
 Saint Jerome (by Caravaggio)  
confirmed in a previous comment, I am firmly convinced that I had personal and tangible proof for me that Jesus Christ is the truly risen Son of God, and that the canonical Gospels are the direct and undoubtedly truthful testimony of the events that occurred at that time.
If one studies a little, and knows a little the fundamental scriptures, one can also get an idea of the immense work carried out by Saint Jerome, a man of great faith, endowed with remarkable culture and intellectual honesty, who compiled, translated and organized the collection of the Canonical Scriptures, and also transmitted all the rest of the apocryphal material.
Given this, any other reasoning deflates, loses consistency. Therefore, the Gospel story can only be unquestionably true.

Certainly I believe by faith, and that's why I often have doubts, because faith is by definition the belief in something that cannot be proved indisputably, it's a gift that comes from God.
Here I believe what Jesus suggests to me, as he did with Thomas, that I put my hands on his wounds.
To follow this suggestion I must not only rely on the Faith, but also study its foundations, the scriptures, the tradition, and above all I must realize that even today there are those who are persecuted and killed because they believe in Jesus Christ, and thus offer the same testimony of Him.
Not being a politician who can and should make a direct commitment, I can only pray and try to behave like a good Christian, trying to think clearly, and above all without confusing individual ethics with politics. In fact, those who practice politics in an irrational way and perhaps in a certain sense (by blind ideology, I would say better) without taking into account the reality of what exists, can only obtain the opposite of what they would like, and cause ruin and destruction, and discomfort of an entire community. And this is a product of satan.

HISTORY NOTE

Sofronio Eusebio Girolamo (in Latin: Sofronius Eusebius Hieronymus), known as Saint Jerome, Saint Girolamo or Saint Geronimo, (Stridone, 347 - Bethlehem, September 30, 419/420) was a Roman Christian biblical writer, translator, theologian and monk.
Father and Doctor of the Church, he translated part of the Greek Old Testament into Latin (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticle, from the version of the Seventy) and, subsequently, has brought to us all the Hebrew Scripture.
However, there are those who insist - for example, illustrious atheist professors such as Mauro Pesce of the University of Bologna, but there are many others - in doubting that the canonical Gospels are not such, but that they are a jumble of false stories or interpolated fantasies, in the same way as some of the apocryphal gospels.
And there are also those who wrote that perhaps the authors of the sacred texts are not the 4 traditional evangelists, and that perhaps the witnesses of the Gospel do not tell the truth, and that they are tellers of lies and legends.

Faced with the immense work done by Saint Jerome who compiled, translated and organized the entirety of the Canonical Scriptures, it seems to me that any other reasoning, based on the archaeological finds of papyrus fragments, or on the Marxist musings of desperate atheists, is simply ridiculous. Also as when they doubt based on the literary style of the scriptures, or something like that.

I wonder how the intellectual honesty of this giant of thought, a heroic self-witness with all his ascetic life, can be indirectly questioned.
It is also undoubtedly true that St. Jerome, who lived before the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire and the almost total destruction of culture caused by the invasions of wild Germanic tribes, used original documents from the time of Jesus, just as today we have manuscripts from the 15th century, those before Gutemberg.

Even if it is perfectly legitimate, it still seems completely illogical to me to question that the entirety of Scripture is not what we know today. Certain considerations can be meaningless, and only useful for writing articles and monographs and earning a reputation as "scientific" among specialists (atheists) on the subject.

 




Evangelio según San Juan 20,19-31

19 In the evening of that same day, the first after Saturday, while the doors of the place where the disciples were being closed for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, stood among them and said: "Peace be with you! "
20 After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. And the disciples rejoiced to see the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father sent me, I also send you. "
22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit;
23 those who forgive sins will be forgiven, and those who do not forgive them will not be forgiven. "
24 Thomas, one of the Twelve, named Dio, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 Then the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he told them, "If I don't see the fingernail marks on his hands and I put my finger on the nail spot and put my hand on his side, I won't believe it." 26 Eight days later, the disciples were back in the house and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, behind closed doors, stopped among them and said: "Peace be with you!"
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands; reach out your hand and put it in my side; And no longer be an unbeliever, but a believer! ».
28 Thomas replied, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and will believe.
30 Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, but they are not written in this book.
31 These were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, you may have life in his name.

 

Traduzione liturgica della Bibbia