Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

Biographical Information about St. Thomas the Apostle[1]

Readings for Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Eph 2:19-22

In this passage, St. Paul describes the unity brought about among all believers in Christ. This unity is formed under a common teaching flowing from the Hebrew Prophets, through the Apostles to Christ himself who is described as the “capstone” or cornerstone. This unity of spirit becomes the Church – the “dwelling place for God in the Spirit.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 117:1bc, 2
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Using a refrain from St. Mark’s Gospel, the psalm is one of praise for the Good News of God’s salvation.

Gospel Jn 20:24-29

This story from St. John’s Gospel picks up just after Mary Magdalene has brought news to the disciples of the Risen Christ and he has appeared to them in the locked room. He (the Lord) has departed and now Thomas returns to find his friends speaking of Jesus' return from the dead.

Thomas acquires his nickname by doubting what the other disciples tell him and persists until the Lord again comes to the locked upper room. To his credit, following the Lord’s own challenge, St. Thomas applies the title “My Lord and my God”. It is the first time this title, reserved for God the Father, is given to the Son, proclaiming his divinity. The passage concludes with Jesus acknowledging the title but praising those not present who will believe in him without requiring physical proof.

Reflection:

How fortunate we are to have the example of St. Thomas the Apostle, “Doubting Thomas”. If our only example of discipleship was the unwavering faith of St. Paul after his conversion we would find the bar set too high and despair at our unworthiness.

In St. Thomas we see our own doubts, our own skepticism. These feelings, present in all of us to a greater or lesser extent, are not usually the things we share with others, even our closest friends. Because of the faith environment we share, at least in the western world, questioning the divinity of Christ or the existence of God are thoughts we are ashamed even to admit.

It is generally in the dark times, times where our lives seem to be headed in the wrong direction, when everything we do seems to turn to ash, when all we meet seem to turn their backs on us, that we find that question “Where are you now God?” It is when unvarnished evil shows it’s face in our lives that we doubt the words of God’s only Son who said “I am the way the truth and the life, whoever believes in me shall never die but have eternal life.” Ask the teenager who looses both parents to a drunk driver if those words ring true.

But we have St. Thomas. He shows us that the greatest doubts can be turned to faith and that faith can accomplish great things. Today we pray for the strength to retain our faith in the face of adversity. We ask St. Thomas, who sits with the angels and saints around the throne of the Lamb, to intercede for us, that we might be examples of faith to others as he was to us.

Pax
[1] The image used today is “Doubting Thomas” by Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1623
[2] After Links Expire