3 July 2025 (Thursday)
Saint Thomas, Apostle ‐ Feast.
Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:
First Reading : Ephesians 2:19‐22
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.
Responsive Psalm : Psalm 116(117):1‐2
O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim him all you peoples!
Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever.
Gospel : John 20:24‐29
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.’
For our reflection today:
We know why Thomas objected. Because he did not wish to accept the truth about the resurrection. In this he was no different from the other apostles. They had similar difficulties. Thomas was not with them, when Christ came to the Upper Room for the first time. That is the reason for his reservation. His "faithlessness". He asked for a proof. The same proof that the others had already had. Their words and news were not enough for him. He wanted to convince himself personally. He wanted to see with his own eyes. He wanted to touch. And he obtained what he asked for. His "faithlessness" became in a certain sense an additional proof. The very fact that he refused to believe the news of the resurrection, contributed, indirectly, to giving the news even greater certainty. "Faithless" Thomas became, in a certain way, an extraordinary spokesman of the certainty of the Resurrection. As St Gregory the Great affirms, "the faithlessness of Thomas was far more useful to us, as regards faith, than the faith of the other disciples. While, in fact, Thomas is brought back to faith through touch, our mind is consolidated in faith with the overcoming of all doubt, Thus the disciple, who doubted and touched, became a witness to the reality of the Resurrection" (XL Homiliarum in Evangelia lib. III, Homil. 26, 7: P.L. 76, 1201). (St. John Paul II, Regina Coeli, 22 April 1979)
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