Already this Sunday, April 26, we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Easter. The wife of Albert Einstein was once asked if she understood her husband's theory of relativity. She answered: "Unfortunately not, but I understand my husband." In other words her lack of understanding of his theory did not hamper the growth of a deep relationship of faith and love with her husband. She understood him.
And so it is with us with regard to Jesus Christ. We cannot approach him intellectually only. We can get bogged down trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity, or the mystery of the resurrection. Our call, above all, is to a faith and loving relationship with a living person, a person who is still alive and among us, Jesus Christ.
It is interesting that after the resurrection, when Jesus appears, he does not try to explain to the disciples the biology of a glorified body. He does not try to explain to them what it was like to rise from the dead, or to explain to them how he walks through a locked door. He accents only the personal. He asks them to touch him, give him something to eat, to see that he is real, to have faith.
And that is also what Jesus asks of us today and throughout this Easter season and throughout our life. Touch me, see me, know me. See that I am real, not a ghost, and know that I continue to be with you.
We touch Jesus today, especially in the Eucharist, but also in his Word, in the scriptures, and in one another, our sisters and brothers. During this Easter season we need to become more intimate with this person, Jesus Christ. We may not in this life ever fully understand the all the mysteries of our faith, but we can daily grow in a personal relationship with Jesus. That is what Jesus taught his disciples, that is what he teaches us.