THOMAS, Apostle
Introduction
The gospel has some beautiful texts about St. Thomas. Not only the “My Lord and my God” after his doubt and hesitation to believe, but also “Let us too go and die with him,” and the question “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How could we know the way?” And the Lord’s, “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Tradition has him go as far as Persia and the Malabar region in India, where the Christians are still called “the Christians of St. Thomas.”
Opening Prayer
Our living God,
on this feast of St. Thomas we pray:
Our eyes have not seen your son Jesus Christ
and our fingers have not touched the scars of his wounds,
yet we have come together in his name.
Make our faith in him deep and lasting,
that the Spirit may breathe new life in us
and make us look with new eyes
at the world and at people,
so that we can bring them
the love and the peace and the justice
of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.
Reading 1: Ephesians 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 117:1bc, 2
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness for us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Alleluia: Jn 20:29
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Intercessions
– For our shepherds in the faith, that they may place the powers of healing, pardon and peace entrusted to them by Jesus in the service of the people of God and of all who seek the truth, we pray: R/ Our Lord and God, hear our prayer.
– For all who doubt and seek, whether in the Church or outside, that they may encounter the living Christ in us, we pray:
– For this and all Christian communities, that our faith in Jesus may lead us to have faith in each other’s goodness and to be united in faith, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
in these simple signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus will make himself present among us.
Yet we cannot see him with other eyes
than those of deep faith.
May he encounter us here
and let him strengthen our hesitant faith.
Make us recognize him unhesitatingly
and to say to him: “Our Lord and our God,”
now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
we thank you for Jesus, your risen Son.
He who loves us is alive.
Give us eyes of faith to see
that all that we are and do
has a meaning and purpose
and that your Son is with us and guides us
through our darkness and hesitations
to the fullness of life and joy.
Let him always stay with us
now and for ever.
Blessing
We have to be grateful to St Thomas, for thanks to his hesitation and question to see clearer, our faith is confirmed. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reflection:
Feast of St Thomas, Apostle
3 July 2023
John 20:24-29
The Wounds of Christ
When Jesus appeared after the resurrection, some rejoiced, while others doubted. Thomas the apostle was not among those who received that first vision of the Risen Jesus. Jesus made him wait for a week before showing himself to Thomas. The Lord knows when and how to do things. It took Thomas eight days to come to terms with what he had asked for – to place his fingers on Jesus’ wounds to believe that he had risen from the dead.
He professed his faith in the Lord after turning from unbelief to faith in the Resurrection. A week later, when Jesus stood before him, Thomas was not just certain that the Lord is truly risen, but he was convinced that his Master with whom he spent three years is God himself and he cries: “My Lord and my God”..
St. Thomas has shown us a way to identify Jesus – by touching his wounds. “How can we find the wounds of Jesus today? We cannot see them as Thomas saw them. We find them by touching the injured bodies of our brethren, for they are hungry, thirsty, naked, humiliated, slaves, in prison and in hospitals. These are the wounds of Jesus in our day.”
A mere act of philanthropy or service to society is not sufficient. Reaching out to our needy brothers and sisters around us enables us to touch the wounds of Jesus. Pope Francis reminds us that “We must touch the wounds of Jesus, and caress them. We must heal the wounds of Jesus with tenderness. We must literally kiss the wounds of Jesus”. The life of St Francis of Assisi changed when he embraced the leper because he touched the living God and lived in adoration. “What Jesus asks us to do with our works of mercy”, the Pope concluded, “is what St. Thomas desired: to enter his wounds”.
Like St. Thomas, let us be determined to discover the wounds of Jesus that are still visible today on the bodies of all our brothers and sisters who are hungry, thirsty, naked, humiliated, in prison and in hospitals. By touching and caressing these wounds “we can adore God alive in our midst”.