It is always fascinating to see how different disciples approach the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus.  Before he came to utter his amazing creedal statement - "My Lord and my God"  Thomas was full of doubts, he wanted proof he wanted to see with his own eyes and touch with his own fingers before belief that Jesus really had been raised from the dead dawned upon him.

On the other hand - Mary Magdalene, sometimes known as "the apostle to the Apostles", because she was the very first to encounter the Risen Lord and was sent by him to tell the other disciples - had a completely different approach.  The last thing she expected when she went to the garden tomb to anoint the body of Jesus was an encounter with the one who had been crucified only three days before.  At first, she mistook this mysterious person in the garden to be the gardener, it was only when he said her name - "Mary" that the light dawned and she knew that the Lord was indeed risen from the dead.  Her immediate understandable reaction was a need to cling to Jesus in worshipful adoration, but Jesus gave Mary a mission to go and tell the other disciples the Good News - "I have seen the Lord".

Here are two very different approaches to the same glorious event, one highly analytical, the other highly emotional.

Just as God has created two hemispheres in the world: so too, he has created two hemispheres in each and every human brain.  The left-brain and the right-brain handle information differently.  The left-brain is logical, explains and observes in a rational way.  The right brain functions by leaps of imagination and is more concerned with feelings and emotions.  In short, the left-brain is rational and the right-brain is more experiential.  The two functions of the brain can be summarised as: -

                               Left Brain                                Right Brain

                         verbal                                        imaginative
                         logical                                        intuitive
                         rational                                      artistic
                         conceptual                                  experiential

Thomas was more of a left-brain person and Mary Magdalene more of a right-brain person.  Which one are you?

The Church is "the Body of Christ" - sometimes we stress the left-brain functions and sometimes the right-brain functions dominate but to be truly balanced we need to maintain a healthy equilibrium.  Both halves of the brain are required in order for us to be totally holistic.  At certain times we tend to be over rational and at other times we can be over imaginative.  We need to keep a healthy tension between the two.  So in approaching a greater understanding of the Resurrection of Jesus we need to be both like Thomas and Mary.  So, let us rationally and diligently study the Scriptures (which contain all that is necessary for our salvation), especially those parts of the gospels which relate to the resurrection, the spark which created the Church but also let our imagination come into play as we meditate upon the wonder of this most stupendous Easter event.  May our Easter worship of Christ, the Risen Lord, be both rational and imaginative - logical and artistic.  May all that we are give glory to Jesus as He leads us, in company with Thomas, Mary Magdalene and all the saints, on the way to heaven and life eternal.

                                   With Easter Blessings,

                                      FATHER DAVID