Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
John 20:24–29
The Gospel story chosen for today’s feast brings us back to Easter.
We know it very well.
It is the evening of the first Easter Sunday.
The risen Lord comes to His frightened disciples.
But Thomas is not with them.
Why?
We do not know.
We can only say this:
he missed the encounter.
And when the others later tell him,
“We have seen the Lord,”
Thomas refuses to believe.
How contemporary.
We do not know when the disciples met Thomas. Was it on Monday? Tuesday? Saturday morning?
We do not know where they met him.
The evangelist reports only Thomas’ reaction to their proclamation:
“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
These are hard words.
But perhaps they are also wounded words.
Thomas had seen Jesus die. He had seen hope collapse. He had seen the cross.
And now he says:
I cannot believe unless the Crucified One is truly the Risen One.
When Thomas spoke these words, Jesus was not visibly present.
And yet, eight days later, Jesus came again.
The doors were locked, but He stood among them.
This time Thomas was with the community.
That matters.
The encounter happened not in isolation, but among the disciples.
Then Jesus turned to Thomas and repeated Thomas’ own words:
“Put your finger here. See my hands. Bring your hand and put it into my side.”
How did Jesus know?
The psalmist gives us the answer:
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me… Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
No creature is hidden from God.
Jesus knew Thomas’ doubt. He knew his resistance. He knew the words Thomas had spoken.
And He came for him.
We are not told whether Thomas actually touched the wounds.
Perhaps he no longer needed to.
Before the wounded and risen Lord, Thomas made the greatest confession in the Gospel of John:
“My Lord and my God.”
John begins his Gospel by saying:
“The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Now Thomas, who had rejected the proclamation of his companions, confesses Jesus as his Lord and his God.
But Jesus’ final word is for us:
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Blessed are those who believe the proclamation of the Church that Christ is risen, without placing their own conditions first.
That is the true miracle of faith.
And that is why Saint Peter praises those who have not seen Christ, and yet love Him; who do not see Him now, and yet believe in Him.
We belong to that blessed company.
For mysterious reasons, we have received this gift.
We have not seen the Upper Room. We have not placed our fingers in His wounds. We have not seen Him standing before us as Thomas did.
And yet we believe.
May Saint Thomas the Apostle pray for all who struggle to believe, all who have missed the encounter, all who stand outside the joy of the Church,
that they may accept the proclamation of the Church:
Christ is risen.
And that they may join the company of the blessed ones:
those who have not seen, and yet believe.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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