Doubt No Longer, But Believe
Introduction
The gospel has some beautiful texts about St. Thomas. Not only the “My Lord and my God” after his doubt and hesitation to believe, but also “Let us too go and die with him,” and the question, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How could we know the way?” And the Lord’s, “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Tradition has him go as far as Persia and the Malabar region in India, where the Christians are still called “the Christians of St. Thomas.”
First Reading: Ephesians 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 117:1bc, 2
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples! R.
For steadfast is his kindness for us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever. R.
Gospel Reading: John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Commentary
We are intimate and close to God, brought so nearby Jesus and those who came after him, prophets, apostles, other disciples. And we are built up into one household of God rising on the foundations they first laid. We are the dwelling place for God in the Spirit – do we keep that in mind? This is not a description of us as individuals but as a people, a church, the whole people of God. Can anyone tell?
Thomas, like the other apostles, betrayed Jesus. He is absent (some think because as a twin he was hiding under that alter-identity) when the Risen Lord comes and gifts them all with peace, with the power of the Spirit and sends them into the world to forgive and hold bound those that need it. And he refuses to believe any of them, articulating his own crude criteria for belief: seeing is believing. And so he stifles the Spirit and stops the Good News from getting into the world. Jesus comes after him, holding him bound to his words and blessing all those who will follow (like us), who will believe the words of others telling us of resurrection life.
Blessing
We have to be grateful to St Thomas, for thanks to his hesitation and question to see before he believes, our faith is confirmed. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!