Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of one of the great Apostles of the Lord, one of the Twelve Apostles, St. Thomas the Apostle, known as the one who doubted the Lord, His Resurrections, words and teachings. St. Thomas was not an easy man to convince, as the Scriptures has shown us. Yet, in the end, the Lord showed St. Thomas that everything that He has revealed and taught to him were truly the truth, and everything indeed happened as He had predicted and spoken about them. Thus, St. Thomas became one of the most ardent disciples of the Lord, and went on to do great things for the greater glory of God, spreading the Good News of God to more and more people who have not yet heard of Him.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, of the nature that all the faithful people of God are parts of the Church, the Body of Christ. The Apostles meanwhile are the foundations and the pillars, as were the prophets and other great saints and messengers of God. Each one of them are important parts of the Church, which allowed the Church to grow ever larger and prosper among the people of God. St. Thomas the Apostle was one of these many pillars, and the contributions and works he had done, all were meant to strengthen the structure and the support of the Church. St. Paul also mentioned how all the whole structure is joined together, and rises to be a holy Temple in the Lord, representing how each and every one of us as those who believe in the Lord are Temples of the Lord’s Holy Presence.
The significance of those words, is that the Apostles and the many other saints are the good role models and inspirations for all the other faithful people of God, and through the holiness and sanctity that they had shown, in their lives and works, St. Thomas the Apostle, the other Apostles and the innumerable other holy men and women of God, those who have been declared saints and blesseds, all these helped us all in our own lives, by inspiring and showing us all what it truly means for us to be Christians, to be God’s people and members of His one Body, the Body of Christ the Church. Each and every one of us should be strengthened and empowered by the Apostles and all that they had done for the good of the Church and all the whole people of God.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the account of how the Lord appeared to St. Thomas the Apostle and the other disciples and proved to the former that He was truly risen from the dead. Initially, the Lord appeared to all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord except for St. Thomas himself who was away and not present. St. Thomas doubled down on his stubborn refusal to believe in the Lord’s resurrection, and even challenged that he would not believe unless he could put his fingers into the wounds of the Lord, and prove that He was truly risen in the flesh, or else he would not believe in Him. That was when the Lord proved him wrong and revealed to St. Thomas himself that He was indeed Risen from the dead.
Through all of these, we can see that God had called for Himself people who were imperfect, flawed and some might even consider unworthy to be the disciples and followers of the Lord, and less still as an Apostle and a role model for all the faithful. But lest we are quick to judge and think that St. Thomas was less than worthy to follow the Lord, we have to look at ourselves first. Are we not also flawed and faulty, imperfect and sometimes wicked in our ways? When God called us, it was not His intention to make those who are already great and perfect, unblemished and unflawed to be His followers. In fact, none of us would have ever been worthy of the Lord in that manner, and no one would have been worthy enough to be a follower of the Lord, being sinners that we are.
However, the truth is that God called His disciples and followers from the world, sinners and imperfect, and turned them all into those whose lives have been transformed and changed by their knowledge of God and His truth. For example, St. Thomas himself, once filled with doubt and stubbornness in refusing to believe in the Lord, became one of the Lord’s greatest servants in doing His will through many years of faithful service, proclaiming the Good News in many distant places and lands, and converting many to the true faith, revealing the Risen Lord to those who have not yet heard of Him. Once an unbeliever himself, St. Thomas spent many years in his works, in proclaiming the Risen Lord, and eventually even suffering and dying a martyr’s death for that same truth.
St. Thomas went to proclaim the Good News of God in many places, and most importantly, in what is now India, where he proclaimed the Messiah and the Son of God, the Risen Lord, in various parts of southern India. Apostolic and Church traditions, as well as historical evidences showed that St. Thomas helped to establish Christian communities in various places across coastal areas of India, evidently due to his works and contributions. Those Christian communities would endure and remain strong for centuries, and later on, those Christians kept their faith and continued to show the faith in the Lord despite the hardships and the challenges that they constantly faced. St. Thomas himself faced the same persecution and hardships, and was martyred in the midst of his ministry.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can clearly see that the Lord had called St. Thomas to be His faithful and worthy servant, although he was an unbeliever and was wavering in faith initially. He called the imperfect and the weak so that by His grace and strength, He might empower them all and strengthen them that they become the worthy followers and disciples of His. That is what He has done for us as well, and what He will do for us. Each one of us should realise that as Christians, as God’s followers and disciples, we should do our best to do God’s will, in all that He has entrusted to each one of us, the mission and works that we should be doing in the path that He has shown us. The question is then, are we able to commit ourselves like St. Thomas and the other holy men and women of God had done?
Let us all therefore seek to do our best to do God’s will in each and every moments and opportunities provided to us, so that we may continue to glorify Him by our lives, by our every actions, works and deeds, as well as in our every words and interactions with one another. May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us in our every efforts and good endeavours, so that we may continue to inspire each other and more people, just as how St. Thomas had inspired countless people throughout the history of the Church and the world. St. Thomas, Holy Apostle of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, pray for us all who are sinners and are weak in our faith, that God may also strengthen our faith in Him and our love and dedication to Him, as He has done with you. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 