Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
As a child, I used to dream about the future and think about the time when I would be able to drive. I thought driving would make my life complete. When I was in high school, I thought college would finally allow me to be myself. Throughout college, I kept thinking about getting married and how that would make me happy. It did not dawn on me until much later that happiness was what not based on external events. Instead, I realized happiness comes from having an internal attitude of gratitude and a deep trust in the Lord.
Today’s feast celebrates Thomas the apostle, whom many of us know as the doubting Thomas. Thomas’ words in today’s gospel suggest a lack of trust both in the Lord and in his friends. “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.” (John 20:25) Thomas made his belief conditional upon seeing and touching Jesus. Thus, Thomas comes to believe when Jesus appears in the way Thomas expects. This story may be where the phrase, “Seeing is Believing” comes from. Yet, do we need to see in order to believe?
A child trusts that they are loved. For them, this sense of love is organic in that their parents do everything they can to communicate this clearly. As adults this trust or belief can become obscured, especially as events challenge our belief system. Thomas had just lost the one whom he had loved and trusted. Jesus had just been crucified and buried. Jesus alive, that was impossible to believe. And yet Jesus met Thomas in that doubt and reoffered Thomas his unconditional love. In return Jesus asks for Thomas’s unconditional faith. Do we recognize the unconditional love the Lord offers us? How do we respond to this love? Is it with an unconditional trust? What can we do better in order to live as undefiled temples?
Lord, help us to see that You are meeting us in the very places where we need to recognize you. Help us put aside the bad attitudes or habits that prevent us from seeing You. Like Thomas, give us words of faith that express our unconditional trust in You, both now and forever. Amen!
-Michael Montgomery