Friday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

I used to watch a lot of episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In one episode an innocent man was accused of murder, and a priest was attempting to show the investigators he was innocent. At one point Gil Grissom, the main character, doubts the direction of the investigation. Another investigator mentions how “doubting Thomas” desired to see Jesus in person and to feel his wounds. Grissom stated that Thomas was ahead of us all. He wanted empirical evidence.

What I am about to say should be obvious, but it must be repeated. Our beliefs are founded on faith. We can’t put God under a microscope. We can’t have Elon Musk make a spaceship that will fly us to Heaven for a price (don’t Tesla the Lord, get it?). Yes, there are plenty of proofs for what we believe. Jesus was a real person, and the first disciples of Jesus went to their deaths proclaiming the Resurrection of Jesus, which means they truly believed what they were preaching. Yet, we take the tenets of our religion on faith. We can’t “prove” the Holy Trinity, or Resurrection from the Dead in a purely material way. We take our religion on a healthy faith. This doesn’t mesh well with a materialistic society that demands physical proof and commercial verification for everything. We want to have “proof” all the time. Ironically, the proofs offered by the world can be superficial and filled with half-truths.

Hebrews reminds us that “we are strangers and sojourners” while we walk on Earth. We are not here to build an earthly kingdom. Whatever our dreams and ambitions are, we Christians must never lose sight of our Heavenly Homeland. We are all meant for more than meets the eye.

The Apostle Thomas demonstrates this to us in a backhanded way. It wasn’t enough for him to hear that Jesus had risen. He needed to literally see Him alive and to “place his hand” in Jesus’ wounds. Thomas, by saying this, shows he longs to believe and is afraid to. He is showing us the desire that we all have to look on the face of the Beloved, (Jesus), even if we won’t admit it. It makes one wonder if Thomas’ problem was a lack of hope instead of a lack of faith. He had shown faith in Christ by following Him. He seems to have lost hope in the promise of Jesus. When Jesus appears again, Thomas is there, and He allows him to place his hands in the wounds from the Crucifixion. Thomas’s faith and hope are thus he restored. He declares “my Lord and my God.” This is one of the first times Jesus’ divinity is recognized outright by one of His disciples. From this point forward Thomas’ faith and hope allow him to give his love fully to Jesus. He goes forward to serve the Lord and spread the Gospel. He eventually dies (according to tradition), being martyred in India. Thanks be to God for the witness of St. Thomas.

Question: do you find a good friend in St. Thomas when you experience doubts about faith? Do you think that doubting Thomas could really be called hoping Thomas because he had his hope in Jesus’ promise restored?

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB