July 3, 2019 Wednesday, 13th Week in
Ordinary TimeSt.
Thomas, Apostle
1st Reading: Eph 2:19–22
Gospel: Jn 20:24–29
Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Resist no longer and be a believer.”Thomas then said, “You are my Lord and my God.” Jesus replied, “You believe because you see me, don’t you? Happy are those who have not seen and believe.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Few people have the privilege of building up their faith their own way. Usually we submit to certain standards in the spirit of openness because that is the first step involved in faith building. Thomas is one of the few. He said: “Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” To a curious eavesdropper he sounds arrogant. But to one who understands what he had been into, he sounds desperate. His statement calls for massive sensitization after his faith suffered fatal fall at Calvary. When he had it his way, he exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas recovered his faith but not the way Jesus wanted it. “Happy are those who have not seen and believe,” Jesus admonished him. Some people believe because the rational probative value of evidence before them is irresistible. Others believe not because of independent unimpeachable evidence but because of their relationship with the one testifying. Thomas belonged to the first, for which Jesus rebuked him. Jesus wants his followers to draw faith from their relationship with him, not from hard core evidence all the time.
As Christians we often maneuver in an ocean of doubt because the big things we believe are mysteries. At the Mass, for example, we prefer to see the host change from bread to flesh. But the change happens only at the level of substance, not at the level of appearance. In the last analysis we are better off than Thomas because we can still believe without seeing. Saint Augustine assures us in his “Sermons”: “Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe” – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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