20210703 THE DYNAMISM OF FAITH
03 July, 2021, Saturday, St Thomas, Apostle
First reading |
Ephesians 2:19-22 © |
In Christ you are no longer aliens, but citizens like us
You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 116(117):1-2 © |
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Jn20:29 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said: ‘You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 20:24-29 © |
'My Lord and my God!'
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:
‘You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
THE DYNAMISM OF FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EPH 2:19-22; PS 117:1-2; JN 20:24-29 ]
The feast of St Thomas brings much consolation to all of us who are struggling in faith. How often have we doubted God, not just His love and care for us but even His existence? Sometimes, we wonder whether Jesus is truly risen, as our Faith teaches us. Like Thomas, we have not seen the Risen Lord for ourselves. And so like Thomas, we say the same thing, “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.”
Some of us might feel guilty for not simply believing in the Lord. Yet, Thomas reminds us that we must be sincere in what we believe. Many of us also declare and recite our Creed every Sunday, not many of us really understand what we articulate or even think of the implications of what we confess. We merely go through the ritual Sunday after Sunday. We pretend to believe even in the Eucharist when our faith in the Eucharist also varies in degree. Otherwise, we would have been radically transformed and show profound reverence before the presence of our Lord. As it is, quite a number of us receive the Eucharist in a perfunctory manner, not knowing or understanding what we are truly receiving. If we truly did, then like Thomas, before the Eucharist, we too would have said, “My Lord and my God!”
Indeed, Thomas assures us that the Lord journeys with us in our honest and sincere doubts. Thomas sincerely had difficulties believing in the resurrection of our Lord even though, earlier on, he was the one who said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (Jn 11:16) How could one so ready to die for Jesus not accept His death when it came? Once again, a good reminder for us all. Saying is one thing but living out is another thing all together. In good times, we make promises of love and fidelity, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, all the days of our life with our spouse, but when it comes to living out the marriage in daily life, it is a different matter altogether. Thomas was so overwhelmed by the death of our Lord that he could not overcome his grief.
The second mistake that Thomas made was to withdraw from the community in his sadness. This is often what we do as well. When we fail in life or when we have made a big mistake, or when facing a sad and tragic event in our life, or the life of our loved ones, we withdraw from the community. We drown ourselves in our sorrows, in our grief by ourselves. When that happens, we become more inward- looking, licking our wounds and growing in resentment and in despondency. What we should do, and what Thomas should have done, is to find strength and support from the community. But he did not. “Thomas, called the twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.”
However, that is life as well. God is patient with us in our growth in faith. There is a dynamism in spiritual growth. We must not forget that our faith in God, just like any relationship, is dynamic. Some days it grows, other days, relatively stagnant and at times, we retrogress. Our faith moves up and down, high and low. Faith is not something we secure once and for all, just like any relationship. Precisely, when we take our faith in God or our relationship with our loved ones for granted, this is where our love grows tepid, our union with our loved ones is weakened. We stop sharing our minds and feelings. Eventually, we begin to misunderstand each other. We quarrel and the relationship becomes one of suspicion and resentment. This can either lead to a decision to renew the relationship or a break in the relationship. So too is our faith in God as well.
In the case of Thomas, he was a late bloomer in faith. He thought his faith in the Lord was indefatigable. But he was proven wrong when his faith was put to the test with the death of his master. He decided to take courage to return to the community of apostles and threw down the gauntlet saying, “unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.” When the Lord appeared to him, he was radically transformed. He did not allow his skepticism to hinder him from opening himself to our Lord. The gospel never said that Thomas literally touched the wounds of our Lord, much less still to think that he could put his hand into the sides of our Lord! Without touching the body of our Lord, Thomas immediately exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”
Once again, we see the progression of faith. From a state of unbelief, he went beyond simply believing that Jesus has been raised from the dead. His faith now far exceeded the rest of the apostles, for Thomas confessed the faith of the entire Church, “”My Lord and my God!” This is the conviction that the Church took some time to arrive at. The early Church had always believed that Jesus is Lord, but to confess Him as God was a cautious and gradual development because of monotheism. But Thomas already articulated the essence of the faith of the Church in declaring that Jesus is Lord and God. This was what Peter confessed, albeit not knowing the depth and full meaning of what he confessed when he said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16:16)
However, the confession of Thomas in Jesus as Lord and God was not sufficient for the Lord. He looked forward to those who would believe through the witness of the apostles and disciples who had seen Him. Jesus said to him: “You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” In saying this, Jesus was reversing what most of us tend to think, that the process of faith is to see and then believe. But the Lord is saying, believing is also seeing. In fact, believing sees more. The case in point is the apostles. All of them had seen Him, but only Thomas could confess that Jesus is Lord and God. So just seeing the Risen Lord itself does not mean that our faith will be strong. Many have seen miracles, yet their faith remains weak and fragile.
Rather, it is in believing that we see more. This is also true in most relationships. When we believe in someone, we expect more and we hope for more. When we surrender in faith, we are totally receptive to what the person says, and not say. But when we are looking for proofs, we are looking only for external signs. This explains why it is relationship that establishes faith. This faith is more than just an intellectual assent to some truth or even just an emotional feeling of love, but it is one of openness and trust in God. What we can learn from Thomas is the need for us to open ourselves in trust to the Lord if we want to see more. Did not the Lord say to us, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (Jn 14:11f)
But this faith in Jesus for us is dependent on the faith of the apostles and their witnessing. St Paul wrote, “You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone.” Our faith in the Church, the Magisterium is founded on the fact that the Lord has built His Church on the rock of Peter’s faith. (Mt 16:16-19) Our faith comes from the apostolic Church. This same faith in Jesus as the Son of the Living God as transmitted to us by the apostles and his successors, is what we must hold today. In believing Jesus as the Son of the Living God, we will enter into His promises for us. Hence, we must learn from the mistake of Thomas, never to seek growth in our faith without the Church. After all, Paul reminds us, “You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household.” So let us align “on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord where God lives, in the Spirit.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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