Thomas, one of the twelve, called
the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had
happened but refused to believe it. The
Lord came a second time; he offered his side for the disbelieving disciple to
touch, held out his hands, and showing the scars of his wounds, healed the
wound of his disbelief.
Dearly beloved,
what do you see in these events? Do you
really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then
came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and
believed? It was not by chance, but in
God’s providence. In a marvelous way
God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the sounds of
his master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our
faith than the faith of the other disciples.
As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast
aside and our faith is strengthened. So
the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the
reality of the resurrection.
Touching Christ, he
cried out: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me,
Thomas, you have believed. Paul
said: Faith the guarantee of things hoped
for, the evidence of things unseen. It
is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what cannot be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told:
You have believed because you have seen
me? Because
what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he
acknowledged to be God, and said: My Lord
and my God. Seeing, he believed;
looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he
could not see.
What follows is
reason for great joy: Blessed are those
who have not seen and have believed. There
is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts one we have
not seen in the flesh. We are included
in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he
believes. But of those who pay only lip
service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God but they deny him
in their works. Therefore James says:
Faith without works is dead. Saint Gregory the Great Pope
The challenge to
us: Do we deny him in our works, or lack
of them? Do we give of ourselves, our
time, our talent and our treasure? Do we
serve or expect to be served? kvs
No comments:
Post a Comment