A Word from the Staff
by Joseph Nuzzi
President of RENEW
The days after Easter are not free from struggle; they are filled with the quiet, often fragile work of hope. The Gospel reminds us that even the apostles did not move immediately from fear to faith. When Christ first appeared to them, one was missing—Thomas. And when he returned, he could not yet believe. His hope had been shattered by the Cross. The suffering he had witnessed was too real, too brutal, too final.
Thomas did not need an explanation; he needed an encounter. When he finally stood before the risen Christ, he was invited not to ignore the wounds, but to touch them. The marks of the nails and the pierced side had not disappeared. The horror of the Cross was not erased. Instead, it had been overcome—transformed into the very sign of victory. It was the wounded and pierced Lord who had been raised in glory through the power of God.
That same tension between despair and hope lives in our world today. We see violence and conflict that seem unending. New wars emerge even as others continue without resolution. We see suffering that raises the same question Thomas once asked in his heart: How can this be redeemed?
Closer to home, many carry heavy burdens. Families strain under economic pressure, uncertain how to meet the rising cost of daily life. Young people face daunting obstacles—student debt, the challenge of finding stable housing, concern for the environment, and the uncertain impact of rapidly advancing technologies. These realities can weigh on the spirit and tempt us toward discouragement.
In such moments, we are not so different from Thomas. We, too, can doubt. We, too, can feel that hope has slipped beyond our grasp.
Yet, Easter stands at the center of our faith as a definitive answer to despair. The Resurrection does not deny the reality of suffering; it reveals its limits. It proclaims that no darkness is final, no wound beyond healing, no loss beyond God’s power to redeem. The same Lord who bore the wounds of the Cross now lives, and in him those wounds are no longer signs of defeat but of love victorious.
This is the hope offered to us—not a shallow optimism, but a deep and enduring trust that God is always at work bringing new life out of what seems lost. Even when we cannot yet see how, even when the world appears overwhelmed by brokenness, the Resurrection assures us that grace is stronger than sin and life stronger than death.
We are called, then, not to surrender to despair, but to live as witnesses of this hope. In our families, our communities, and our world, we can choose faith over fear, compassion over indifference, and courage over resignation. We can accompany those who suffer, speak words of encouragement, and act with quiet perseverance for what is good and just.
Like Thomas, we are invited to move from doubt to faith—not by ignoring the wounds of the world, but by encountering the risen Christ within them. And in that encounter, we discover again and again that God has not abandoned his people.
The message of Easter is clear and unchanging: hope is never lost. In Christ, it is always being renewed. We must never despair.
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