Normal Doubt/Steadfast Faith

DOUBT.  synonyms: question, distrust, unbelief, uncertainty

                antonyms:  trust, believe, certainty, confidence.

Feast of St. Thomas: Born in Galilee, Israel.

Martyred on St. Thomas mount in Ramapuran, India.

 Burial site: Santhome Cathedral; Chennai, India.

  Saint Thomas, Disciple: Universally known as ‘Doubting Thomas.

       Oh, you had not heard this? Well, Thomas was one the Jesus chosen twelve Disciples in the Holy Bible. He loved and believed in this Master and Teacher dearly. This same disciple watched from a distance [fearful for his own life] as spikes were driven into his beloved Master’s hands and feet then later a spear pierced the beloved’s left side.

       With his Master’s death, Thomas’s hope and purpose in life ceased to exist. Thomas became so depressed and unable to be consoled so that he could not even gather with the other disciples when they came together to mourn and to question what had happened to Jesus. Well! supposedly Jesus did appear to Thomas’s peers who then rushed to Thomas to tell him of this appearance.  Thomas was incredulous and told the others that they were delusional in their sorrow. Thomas himself needed proof of this happening; he wanted to touch and feel these wounds in Jesus hands and side.

       Thomas did relent and agreed to attend the next gathering of the disciples.  When Jesus did appear through the closed doors, Thomas was dumbfounded when Jesus invited Thomas to place his fingers into the wounds in His hands and his hand into His side. Thomas’s heart expanded and his unbelief became certainty full of faith and trust unbounded. Thomas now uttered “My Lord and My God.”

      Thomas became the first to put into words in the Holy Bible the truth that Jesus is both Lord and God, welding together the human and divine natures fully. Thomas then became a ‘great evangelizer’ traveling great distances converting multitudes in India where a strong faith persists especially in southern India. Thomas died a martyr’s death in India. I personally want to thank Thomas for being a ‘normal doubter’.

       Gregory the Great stated that this disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than that of many others. As he [Thomas] touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. Thomas became a genuine witness to the resurrection of Jesus and so must we.

       Pope Francis in speaking of Thomas recently stated “We find Jesus words in carrying out works of mercy…Let us ask of St. Thomas the grace to grant us the courage to enter into the wounds of Jesus with tenderness and thereby we will certainly have the grace to worship the Living God today.”

 Liturgy Hymn By All the Saints still Striving

All praise, O Lord, for Thomas,

Whose short-lived doubtings prove

Your perfect two-fold nature,

To all who live with questions

A steadfast faith afford;

And grant us grace to know You

Made flesh, yet God and Lord.

       Sr. Joan Gripshover, OSB