SEEING IS BELIEVING?
There is a well-known saying in English that “seeing is believing”. Whoever first developed this phrase did not take into account that first Easter morning as recounted in the Gospel of John (John 20:1-10). This Gospel tells us that early in the morning three disciples went to the tomb where our Lord’s body had been placed. Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the other disciple whom our Lord loved all went to the empty tomb that Easter morning.
John’s Gospel tells us that Mary of Magdala, who went to the tomb first, thought our Lord’s body had been taken away and placed somewhere else. Peter saw the empty tomb, but did not yet come an understanding of what it meant. Finally, the Gospel notes that the other disciple “saw and believed”. All three disciples saw the same thing and yet, each disciple had a different reaction to what they saw. If “seeing is believing”, then all three disciples should have had the same reaction since all three of them saw the same empty tomb.
On that early Easter morning, the three disciples did not have the same reaction to the empty tomb because they were each different from one another. In fact, we are all different from one another. Who we are as individual men and women affect how we view and encounter our world. We bring with us — within us — set ways of perceiving, processing, and understanding. These set ways affect how we “see” the world around us. That is why the three disciples could see the same empty tomb, but initially had different reactions about what the empty tomb meant.
Although there are many things that make us different from one another, there is one thing we all have in common — our Catholic faith. Our hope and faith placed firmly in Christ is part of who we are as individual men and women here in Hong Kong. Our faith in our Lord’s victory over sin and death is something we bring with us — within us — as his disciples in today’s world. Our faith and hope in Christ should be with us in all that we do each day and how we relate to one another throughout the day.
Each morning, let us be mindful of our faith and the light it shines on our everyday lives. All of our experiences, both the good and the bad, should be understood in the light of faith, which tells us that on that Easter morning the tomb was empty because our Lord was victorious over sin and death and that we share in his victory. Seeing is not believing. However, “believing is seeing”. Our faith should help us understand our lives, our relationships, and the world around us. Let us believe and see the world anew through our faith, through our Lord’s victory in which we share as his disciples today.
易唯誠神父
Rev. Joseph M. Everson III, M.M., J.C.L.