The great Eucharistic hymn Adoro te devote, attributed to St Thomas Aquinas, contains a verse most commonly translated into English (by Gerald Manley Hopkins SJ) as:

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
but can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
this faith each day deeper be my holding of,
daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

Perhaps St Thomas is having a little joke with us when he writes that he is not “like Thomas”. But he is also making a serious point. We do not see the risen body of Christ in the same way St Thomas does. But we do see the body of Christ.

We see Christ’s body in the Church, our brothers and sisters who with us are members of Christ.

We see Christ’s body – with all its wounds – in the sick, the suffering, and the oppressed of this world.

We see Christ’s body present sacramentally in the Eucharist.

And when we affirm our belief that Christ is risen, we affirm too that he raises up all who have been baptised into him; he raises up suffering humanity; and he raises up those who are nourished in the Eucharist.

This Easter time may our devotion to Christ’s body – in all its aspects – be redoubled as we celebrate with joy his resurrection and ours.