3 July 2017
Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
We are all familiar with the phrase, a doubting Thomas, someone who holds out until the irrefutable facts are laid out clear to see. Perhaps of all the apostles, we sympathize and have a connection to Thomas, the man who just could not fathom that somebody came back from the dead and was stopping by for a visit. The name, as is noted in the text, comes from the Greek Didymus, which means twin. We do not see or hear much about Thomas’ twin because that twin is not a real person. The twin is the everyday believer, like us, who has trouble understanding the radical nature and consequences of the Christian faith. John makes us the twin to Thomas and asks that just as we have shared in his unbelief, we may share in his belief as well. Although we can probe the side of Christ, the Church asks us to look into the lives of the great witnesses of our faith who serve as images of Christ and whose lives can help us transform our unbelief.