John 20:24-29 St. Thomas the Apostle “My Lord and my God”
Matthew 9:1-8 Hain may sayon isulti, ‘Gipasaylo na ang imong mga sala’ o ‘Bangon ug lakaw’?
July 1, 2021
Mark 6:1-6 Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him
July 3, 2021
St. Thomas – Apostle
Ephesians 2:19-22
John 20:24-29
A. Text/Context
• Another name for Thomas is Didymus. This is actually a Greek translation of his name
• We know Thomas very well because of his unbelieving attitude towards the resurrected Jesus
• When Thomas knew about the news that Jesus has resurrected and has appeared to his companions, he doubted
• He did not believe what the disciples have said. He needs a proof or evidence or the actual appearance of Jesus that he will see with his own eyes that indeed, Jesus is risen
• When Jesus appeared again and said to them “peace be with you” this time Thomas made the greatest confession of his life when he said: “My Lord and my God”
• These words of Thomas is now the culmination of the Christology of the gospel today
• The words of Thomas to Jesus is also very significant because Jesus affirms or has accepted that He is Lord and He is God
• And Jesus added that “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.”
B. Human Situation
• The very essence of our Christian faith is that we believe even if we do not see God. We feel God even if we cannot touch Him
• God conveys to us in this gospel to dispel all our doubts in our faith with him
• Because when we doubt it is almost tantamount that we do not believe
• There must be no room for doubt. A lot of us are like Thomas who doubted probably because we are so saddled with plenty of problems
• Or even perhaps there were times in our life that we even doubted the existence of God. We also doubt whether our prayers are really heard, etc.
• It is also part of human weakness that sometimes we feel that God is not active in our life
• We are still fine even if we do not attend mass; we still have jobs; we have security in life; we have savings when times get rough; and we would think God has no business
• We do not realize that all the comforts that we enjoy come from him
• Now even if we are comfortable and all that we need is there, at times, life becomes so bland and boring and devoid of excitement. There is now the missing factor, and that is God
• If we have attitudes like this, then, there will never be room for growth in our Christian life and we can never progress in our spiritual life
• Our holy men and women in the Church, the saints believe that there is always the God factor
• When things go wrong, they reflect that there is something that God needs to purify
• When things are all so well and right, they think that there is a signal that the hands of God are at work in their midst
• So you see, the holy people really have no room for doubt. Blessed are those who believe without seeing
• Of course as human beings, even these holy people also get very tired doing all those prayers!
• What I mean is that we just continue to believe in God and continue to pray even if we do not like
C. Challenge
• Today, we are all challenged never to doubt the charity and the goodness of the providential God
• What did the 1st reading tell us about this?
• Believing in the goodness of God entitles us to become fellow citizens and members of the household of God
• Very beautiful. Why do we need to doubt? Why do we need to question?
• Again, there is no room for doubt. There is only total trust and reliance on God’s providence
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