Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
What a blessing it is for us that St. Thomas, the perpetual questioner among the apostles, was absent when the newly Resurrected Christ appeared before the eleven. Had he been there the scene described in today’s Gospel would never have taken place. So, what can we make of that?
Thomas suffered. He had been faithful to Christ, and Christ seemed to have let him down. Couldn’t the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving Christ have arranged it so that Thomas would have been present at His first appearance to the apostles? What a snub to a devoted friend! What cruelty! Yet, had he been there, he would have not later been able to say, “my Lord and my God.”
And how about today? Don’t I know good people who suffer, physically, emotionally? Where is Christ, the object of their faith? Can I blame them for no longer being able to say, “My Lord and my God?”
I think we can say growth involves suffering. Nowhere is this better seen than in the physical and emotional development of young people. Yet, because of suffering, they grow stronger. So it is with faith. Prayers are not always answered the way we want them to be answered; yet, looked back at, had they been answered according to the intention with they were made, greater blessings and a strengthening of faith would never had occurred.
Resolve: I shall pray to St. Thomas today to intercede for people who struggle with the faith and for those who have left the Church, that they be given the faith with which he was singularly blessed.