BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO BELIEVED


FEAST OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Eph 2:19-22; Ps 117:1-2; Jn 20:24-29

Happiness of those who have not seen, yet believed

St. Thomas the Apostle is widely known as the one who doubted the resurrection of the Lord in the scripture. Hence, we call anyone who doubts a doubting Thomas. But as St. Gregory the Great rightly pointed out, the doubt of St. Thomas has benefitted us more than the believing of the other apostles, for his doubt was providential for the good of us all who did not see the risen Lord. It was at the instance of his doubt, his touch, and then believing that the Lord proclaimed the blessedness of those who have not seen but believed. In the true sense of the word, those who saw were not better than us who did not see, for they still needed faith to enter blessedness. They saw a man but believed in God. Thus, St. Thomas' proclamation of the faith of the Church was adopted as the expression of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. “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!’” He expressed the faith of the Church here, just as Peter’s confession was that of the Church.

Thomas expressed the faith of the Church in the risen Lord because all that he saw and touched were signs. But his proclamation of faith went beyond the signs to the object of the faith of all believers, God himself. At any time, anyone proclaims this faith, such a person does it in the name of the Church and instantiates the Church of God and the Body of Jesus Christ. The Church is the Bride of Jesus Christ who recognises his voice and presence as the Lamb of God. These signs the Lord gives to his Church are Sacraments of his abiding presence within the Church. This is why the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians explained their membership in the Apostolic Church. “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.” Hence, the blessings the Lord proclaimed for those who did not see but believed are for all the members of the Church, who saw signs and believed in the divinity of the risen Lord. They are indeed blessed who received the Sacrament but believed in the reality of God within and among us.

This blessedness will not be ours if we receive the Sacraments and disbelieve the reality of what they stand for. The apostles saw and touched the signs and proclaimed their faith in the reality of God’s presence among us. We must believe their proclamation of the Gospel message to share their blessedness. This is possible because reality is reached only by faith and never by sight or touch, for it is beyond time and space. Thus, their sound which has gone out to the world is a sign of his presence, for scripture says that the Spirit worked with them and confirmed every word they spoke. Therefore, when the Gospel message they carried to the whole world reaches our ears and enters our hearts, we should not stop at the sign of the Gospel message but give it an assent of faith to receive the reality it contains. The Gospel message which is sent to us through written or spoken medium contains the spiritual reality which we can reach only through faith and not by the senses. As Paul explained, it is only through receiving and believing in the word of God we hear that we are built and aligned into a holy temple for God. “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.” The less we doubt the reality we receive in the Sacraments, the more we love God and worship him in spirit and truth as Thomas did.

Let us pray: Grant, almighty God, that we may glory in the Feast of the blessed Apostle Thomas, so that we may always be sustained by his intercession and, believing, may have life in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, whom Thomas acknowledged as the Lord.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BECOMING A DEPENDABLE FRIEND

Image
FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eccl 6:5-17; Ps 119:12,16,18,27,34-35; Mk 10:1-12 Making and being a Good Friend The usefulness of a faithful friend is the subject discussed in the passage of Sirach we are considering. From the qualities that make a good friend, we understand that faithfulness depends on the perfection we attain in the formative school of wisdom. The first lesson we learn in nature is faithfulness. The quality of faithfulness is so closely aligned with nature that we consider nature and faithfulness synonyms. The faithfulness of nature, and subsequently of wisdom, is hinted at when we read that wisdom stands at her post/gate daily to beckon the passers-by to turn in and partake of her table. Everything that God made participates in this faithfulness of wisdom in the sense that each remains faithful to his will without failing or leading our minds astray. First, Sirach admonishes us on friendliness to people in general: “A kindly turn of speech multiplies a ...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING OUR AFFLICTIONS

Image
ST. JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR Job 1:6-22; Ps 17:1-3,6-7; Lk 9:46-50 Salvation of the Just from the affliction of evil We have the beginning of Job in the first reading today. The reading has many hidden lessons we can learn to foster our relationship with God. The first that seems very obvious is the fact of Satan attending to God with the sons of God. By this, we must understand that every rational creature of God is among his sons. They all attend to God, from whom they receive life and sustenance. God sustains all his creatures in being, both material and immaterial creatures. They also ask God for permission to carry out a course of action. Nothing moves in the heavens and on earth without God knowing and permitting it. The attending of rational creatures is what we call prayer. The good and bad angels pray to God for permission to carry out actions or bring about ends that agree with his divine will. God usually hears or permits these prayers based on his divine justice in acco...
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had ...
Read more