Today is the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. Thomas is popularly known as “Doubting Thomas.” Why? Because he questioned and doubted as we hear in today’s Gospel: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” In defense of Thomas, we can make two points: 1) all the other apostles, doubted, questioned or denied; 2) Thomas also believed and came to faith. We hear the words of Thomas’ confession in today’s Gospel: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas, like the other disciples, all had to go through a journey of faith. Sometimes their faith was strong but other times they were people of little faith, they doubted and questioned. Jesus was patient with them because, like us, they tended to see things from their own experience and their own point of view. Jesus had to lead Thomas and the others to see things the way that God sees things. The journey of faith can be a bumpy road.
John wrote his Gospel for the early Christian community and for us. Jesus calls us blessed: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” We as believers and as a church are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” as we hear in today’s first reading from Ephesians. But we also hear that “Christ Jesus himself [is] the capstone.” We as individual believers and as a church need to always go back to that capstone Christ Jesus. This is our journey of faith. All traditions, customs, and devotions are to be filtered and assessed through Jesus Christ. Like Thomas, some days our faith is weak, we doubt and question, but other times our faith is rock solid. On our journey of faith, we are blest as we come to know God in a deeper way and are challenged to love our neighbor through our own words and deeds of mercy and compassion. As we hear in the first reading from Ephesians: “We are no longer strangers and sojourners, but…fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.”
Image: “Doubting Thomas” by lluisribesmateᥩ is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.