St. Thomas the Apostle

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Thomas, who we generally refer to as “Doubting Thomas.”

The label comes from an incident in John’s Gospel following Jesus’ resurrection. As that Gospel passage records, Thomas is not present with the other disciples when the resurrected Jesus visits them. When he returns and they tell him, “We have seen the Lord,” he doubts their account and tells them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my fingers into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

The next time Jesus appears to the disciples, Thomas is present. Seeing him, Jesus invites Thomas to put his finger into the nailmarks and his hand into Jesus’ side. Thomas’ disbelief quickly gives way to belief: Thomas does not need to touch the wounds; the personal encounter with Christ is enough. Filled with awe, he utters what one commentator has called “the greatest confession of faith recorded anywhere in the Bible” – “My Lord and My God!”

To call Thomas a doubter because he did not believe the account of his friends is unwarranted. None of us is asked to believe in the reality of the risen Christ based solely on the testimony of others. Rather, we are invited to a personal encounter with Christ. Like Thomas, we don’t need to put our fingers into the nailmarks or our hands in Jesus’ side. But we are invited to taste Him in the Eucharist, to see Him in the faces of all those we encounter and to allow the Spirit to reveal Him to our hearts. So we can all, like Thomas, proclaim with awe and wonder, “My Lord and My God.”

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Let Us Also Go To Die With Him

Today’s Gospel reading is the account in John’s Gospel of the raising of Lazarus, a passage I have often taken to prayer.

It is an incredibly rich passage and there are any number of directions our prayer with it might take us. We might identify with Lazarus, growing in despair as he nears death without any sign of his friend Jesus. Or with Martha, who gives Jesus the full brunt of her anger and pain when Jesus shows up after her brother died. Or we might focus on her faith in the resurrection…or on Jesus’ act itself.

Most of the time, we are so focused on what happens once Jesus arrives in Bethany that we pay little attention to Jesus’ colloquy with his disciples when he tells them they must go back to Judea.

The disciples must know that this trip will be a dangerous one and we might imagine that at least some were tempted to try to talk him out of it.

But not Thomas, not the one to whom we give the label “Doubting,” because of his later statement that he would not believe Jesus had been resurrected until he could stick his finger in Jesus’ wounds. Learning Jesus plan, we are told that Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”

Perhaps he said it with some fear. Perhaps he said with some resignation. But he said it nonetheless. Thomas has the faith, and the love, to say, well if he is going to die, let’s go off and die with him.

I suspect we’d all like to think we’d be right up there with Thomas, ready to push toward Judea with Jesus, despite the fear that death would be waiting there. Would we? It is worth reflecting on how we would respond if faced with that situation.

Thomas, Called Didymus

Today’s Gospel gives us the story of Thomas, called Didymus, who we generally refer to as “Doubting Thomas.” As the Gospel records, Thomas is not present with the other disciples when Jesus visits them. When he returns and they tell him, “We have seen the Lord,” he doubts their account and tells them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my fingers into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

We all remember the rest of the story. When Jesus appears again to the disciples, Thomas is present and Jesus invites him to put his finger into the nailmarks and his hand into Jesus’ side. But Thomas does no such thing; the personal encounter with Christ is enough. Filled with awe, he utters what one commentator has called “the greatest confession of faith recorded anywhere in the Bible” – “My Lord and My God!”

None of us is asked to believe in the reality of the risen Christ based solely on the testimony of others. Rather, we are invited to a personal encounter with Christ. Like Thomas, we don’t need to put our fingers into the nailmarks or our hands in Jesus’ side. But we are invited to taste Him in the Eucharist, to see Him in the faces of all those we encounter and to allow the Spirit to reveal Him to our hearts. So we can all, like Thomas, proclaim with awe and wonder, “My Lord and My God.”