Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, a painting by Caravaggio

We are celebrating today the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. He is known in history as a “Doubting Thomas”. He is called by this name because as recounted in our gospel reading today, during the moment wherein Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, St. Thomas was not around. When the disciples told him about the appearance of Jesus, he told them that unless he saw Jesus’ nail marks and put his finger at the wound at His side, he would not believe. Indeed, when Jesus appeared once again to the disciples, He told St. Thomas to touch His nail marks and His wounds and exhorted him to believe.

What registered in mind of the people was that St. Thomas was doubtful about his faith. However, delving deeper into the story of the Gospel, we could find a profound profession of faith in St. Thomas when he exclaimed “My Lord and My God.”

The doubt of St. Thomas can bring us two lessons.

The first lesson is that when we separate ourselves from the faith community, the more we get lost in the currents of different negative opinions. Thus, we need to stick around with our faith community so that our doubts could be lessened and our faith strengthened.

The second lesson is that doubt does not always lead to becoming a non-believer but it can lead to a deeper and a blessed faith. Faith has to be rational. It must be based on a firm conviction. Of course, seeing does not always follow belief. Many people have seen Jesus but they do not believe him.

When we have doubts, it does not mean that we do not believe at all. Sometimes, it could mean that we still need God’s grace and inspiration to lead us to a greater conviction. When St. Thomas have asked to see and touch Jesus’ wounds, it was considered that he doubted Him. But such a doubt became an opportunity for St. Thomas to see and touch Jesus. With his doubt, he was moved to a greater and strengthened faith and able to exclaim “My Lord and my God.”

We pray that we always find ourselves to be nourished and strengthened in our faith community and that even in our doubts, Jesus will grace us His abiding presence and together with St. Thomas, we can proclaim to the world that Jesus, is our Lord and our God.

(Rev. Fr. Urbano Pardillo, DCD | Director, St. John Paul II Seminary in Kibanban, Digos City)