"…Eight
days after the disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with
them…Then he said to Thomas put your finger here and see my hands…Thomas
answered him, "My Lord and my God!"…Have you believed because you
have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come
to believe" (Jn 20: 26-29).
The proclamation
of our father of faith "My Lord and my God" is a total submission
of St Thomas to the hands of his master. Thomas' strong request for
a direct encounter with the risen Lord indicates his personality.
He absolutely refused to say that he understood what he did not understand
or that he believed what he did not believe. There is an uncompromising
honesty about him. He would never consider his doubts by pretending
that they did not exist. Thomas had to be sure - and he was quite
right. Tennyson wrote:
"There
lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds."
Once
Thomas was sure of it, he went the whole way, accepting Jesus as his
Lord and God. Resurrection of our Lord remains central to Christian
faith. It stands out as the strong pillar upon which Christianity
is built up. Fortunately, the foundation of our Mother Church is upon
the strong Christ-experience that St Thomas owned by seeing and touching
Him. It is this faith-experience of St Thomas that prompted him to
traverse thousands of kilometres only to proclaim that he had seen
Risen Christ and even he had touched him. In the present mission context,
only strong faith-experience, like that of St Thomas will grant us
the grace to be dedicated missionaries and to be the zealous heralds
of the good news.
During
this Easter season may the Risen Lord grant us the grace of an experiential
love of the risen Lord that we may become transformed apostles of
Christ. May St Thomas, our father of faith strengthen us to be firm
in our faith to march forward with greater dedication and fidelity
to the Risen lord.
Fr
Kurian Ammanathukunnel
