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(3rd July) Homily for the Solemnity of St. Thomas – the Apostle of India

READ: (Acts 10:24-35; 1 Pet 1: 3-9; Jn 20: 24-29)

REFLECT: St. Thomas – a willing martyr, ardent seeker and firm believer in Christ…

Dear friends,   today we commemorate the Solemnity of St. Thomas, the Apostle of India. St. Thomas is one of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus. St. Thomas the Apostle of India is a great missionary who brought the message of Christ to our country.  Although, the history has presented him as a doubter of risen Christ, yet his faith in God is attested and deepened by when he said My Lord and My God. He preached the good news of Christ to different parts of our world and brought many people to the Catholic faith. What could have been the secret of this great missionary to get these people for God? It is because, he broke the word of God to people who were broken-hearted, helped the helpless and gave rest to the restless people, giving them a ray of hope in life. He as well believed in the words of his master that Jesus would grant rest to his tired spirit and would enable him to be an instrument in spreading the kingdom of God.

The following are some historical facts about St. Thomas, the Apostle;

St. Thomas is also known as ‘didymus’, which means ‘twin’. The twin of the apostle has not been identified in the bible. Perhaps, we can assume the nature of St. Thomas as twin-sided: as a doubter and a believer in the Lord Jesus by the question and the affirmation that St. Thomas had made. In the Bible, there are three bible references mainly that give us a clear cut picture of who St. Thomas is (Jn 11:16; Jn 14:6; Jn 20: 27-28) and they speak at length his character.

There is a tradition in south India that St. Thomas landed up on the Malabar Coast Kerala in 52 AD. They too believe that St. Thomas build up a Christian community in Kerala. The St. Thomas Christians of Kerala take for granted that their church took origin from St. Thomas the apotle. It is also believed that the holy Apostle founded “seven and a half” Churches on the Malabar Coast (Palayur, Cranganore, Kottakavu, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chyaya, Kollam and Thiruvithuamcode. According to Tradition, after his apostolate in Malabar, St. Thomas moved to East coast. Chennai (Madras) is the place where the Apostle’s mission reached its completion.

According to the tradition of Madral-Mylapore, St. Thomas was martyred in 68 AD. The Keralites believe that the martyrdom was in 72 AD, while the Portuguese believe in 75 AD. However, there is no disagreement about the martyrdom of St. Thomas. There is a magnificent Cathedral where the Apostle’s tomb was built by the Portuguese, close to the Sea. This place in Chennai is called as St. Thomas Mount or Great mount, where many pilgrims and devotees seek after his blessings and intercession.  There is a cave in which St. Thomas believed to have prayed. There is an inscription too is found in the following way: “The cave where lay hid persecuted just before being martyred by Raja Mahadeva, King of Mylapore AD 68. Thomas, one of the twelve, the great apostle of India, the one who put his fingers into the wounds of his Lord and God.” The last sentence is a presumption, because gospel mentions that St. Thomas never touched the wounds of Jesus.

We all know that St. Thomas is as well called as the patron saint of India. Because, of his tireless spirit and zealous preaching of the word of God. St. Thomas left Europe for India to plant the seeds of Kingdom of God. Devotion to St. Thomas is widespread in Tamilnadu and Kerala. I want to focus on the Gospel reading which presents St. Thomas both as doubter and a firm believer in Christ. What comes to our minds when we speak of St. Thomas? As soon as we say about St. Thomas, what comes to our mind is ‘doubting Thomas.’ But today, I would like to reflect with you three most important qualities of St. Thomas which expresses his faith in Jesus.

1.     St. Thomas - a willing martyr for Christ:

One’s willingness is quite sufficient to go any extent of giving oneself to the other. Willingness is born out of one’s love for another. Perhaps willingness of St. Thomas for Jesus rose out of his sheer love for Jesus. St. Thomas’ willingness was such that he was courageous enough to face death even for Christ’s sake. That’s what we hear in the Gospel of John, when Jesus wanted to go to Judea to raise Lazarus from death to life, the disciples said, “Rabbi, the Jews were trying to stone you and are you going there again? But there was still a committed and daring apostle who said, “Come let us also go and die with Him,” (Jn 11:16). It was St. Thomas. It shows that death did not matter to him for a cause. It reveals that he was ready and willing to be a martyr for Christ. Another point to reflect for all of us is that when all the disciples were in closed doors trembling in fear, until the apparition of Jesus, St. Thomas was out of the group. It points out that he was courageous and daring disciple too.

Today, how many of us have the courage to say, “Come let us go and die with Christ and for Christ? Or how many of us in the midst of terror and fear would courageously go out in public or profess the faith that we received from God or the apostolic and catholic Church? The feast is an invitation for such a move in life to courageously proclaiming Jesus, because God is with and assures of us his presence. There have been many saints in the Catholic Church, who have toiled sweat and blood for the sake of Gospel. It is because of their hard work and martyrdom that the Catholic Church stands tall and strong. Can we uphold the values of the Catholic Church and continue to build the Church of God tall and strong? It is an important task and not difficult task, because God has promised to be with us. God looks at our efforts and willingness than our failures or faults. So let us willingly contribute our share in the expansion of God’s mission on earth like St. Thomas, the Apostle of India.

2.     St. Thomas – an ardent seeker of the way, truth and life:

A seeker of God never remains static in one place nor is he satisfied with what he has sought rather he or she is always in search of something that’s interesting and pleasing. I am sure, as seeker of God, St. Thomas was in search of God always by the very question he asked Jesus. Though it could have made Jesus upset for not having understood what Jesus was communicating, yet, because of St. Thomas, the beautiful words in depth we have been given by Jesus. That’s what we have in John’s Gospel during the last supper, St. Thomas asks, “Lord we do not know where you are going? How can we know the way? The answer of Jesus was, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). It summarizes who Jesus was for him. St. Thomas had courage and thirst to ask Jesus to show the way that leads to truth and eternal life. It shows that St. Thomas was seeker of the way, truth and life. Today, can we humble ourselves in asking Jesus and the experienced people of our society to show and to direct the path that leads to life eternal?

In today’s scenario, some of us find difficult or frightened to ask others, when we have not understood something clearly, because our ego gets hurt or we just go as the feet stumbles and sways. Some of us don’t even ask, they choose to remain idle without any dynamism and energy for life. St. Thomas did not care what others would think of him. He asked Jesus what he did not understand or what he could not grasp. Because, Thomas raised a question about Jesus’ going, we could obtain words of Jesus full of power and wisdom, leading to life eternal.

Today, let us not be ashamed or frightened to ask for a clarification, when we have not understood something that’s pertinent to us. It could be something of a subject matter in the college like (seminar, debate etc) or faith that we profess daily or it could be a job that we are involved it. Let us remember, when we don’t understand what is communicated, we won’t benefit from it or we won’t have an access for growth and learning in life. Ultimately, we become losers, losers of faith in Christ or losers of obtaining life eternal.

3.     St. Thomas - a firm believer in Christ:

If we search or ask ourselves what could be the shortest and the sweetest prayer in the Bible, for me I would say that the words or the phrase of St. Thomas, the apostle in the New Testament. In the history of Christianity, there is still no one who has uttered a prayer so short and sweet, self-embracing and self-emptying. But St. Thomas uttered “My Lord and My God” (Jn 20: 27-28). It is an expression of total surrender and belief before the Son of God. And above all, he humbly acknowledges that Jesus is Lord and God.

Yes, dear friends, the words “My Lord and My God,” were the turning point in the life of St. Thomas. The solemnity of Peter and Paul, whose feast we celebrated few days before, last month on 29th of June are clear examples for it. St. Peter who denied thrice Jesus but there was a turning point in his life, when he recalled what the Lord had said and mourned for his sins and later became rock and foundation of our Catholic Church. St. Paul who persecuted Christians but there was a turning point in his life when he encountered the risen Christ on the way to Damascus.

Today, could there be a turning point our lives, a turn for the better. A turn from self-seeking to seeking after truth and eternal life; a turn from material world to spiritual world uniting ourselves with Christ in prayer; a turn from negative views of life to positive views of life and a turn from the state of doubt to a state of belief in Christ like St. Thomas. I am sure, the turning point in life would sure to come and it will definitely help us to change the situations of life we live right now. Today, to be martyrs, seekers, firm believers and true followers of Christ like St. Thomas is a challenging task because of the changing atmosphere and conditions of the world. And so we need a turning point in our lives just as it was in the life of St. Thomas. St. Thomas did not worry about what the disciples would think of him when he asked question where Jesus was to go or doubted the risen Christ. Perhaps, this doubt has helped him to discover Jesus to a deeper level, “My Lord and My God”, and because of his firm faith and conviction in Jesus he was able to spread the Good news of Christ far and wide.

From the above episodes of St. Thomas and the life history of St. Thomas we can surely say that St. Thomas was a true follower of Christ, because as an apostle of Christ, St. Thomas fulfilled the mission command of Jesus by proclaiming the good news to people near and far. But what becomes a failure on our part to proclaim Christ in life is our failure to rise from the crisis that we go through. At times in times of crisis, we just cry over it but don’t take measures to overcome or rise above the crisis of life. St. Thomas had a crisis or syndrome of that kind by way of suspicion and doubt but he rises above the crisis, realizes his crisis and utters after seeing Jesus, “My Lord My God.”

Today let us remind ourselves the message of Pope Francis shares very beautifully that, “The Gospel shows us Thomas’ ‘crisis’ to tell us that we should not fear the crises of life and faith. Crises are not sins, they are part of the journey, and we should not fear them. Many times, they make us humble because they strip us of the idea that we are fine, that we are better than others. Crises help us to recognize that we are needy: they rekindle the need for God and thus enable us to return to the Lord, to touch his wounds, to experience his love anew as if it were the first time.” Yes, we are all of us into such crisis which St. Thomas faced in his life. Let us realize that these crisis are part of our Journey, they mould and shape us, and they help us to walk in the newness of life

RESPOND;

Do we willingly come forward for Christ’s sake and for the proclamation of Good News?

Do we seek like St. Thomas Jesus as the way, the truth and life?

Do we firmly believe in Christ even when tossed up by crisis and chaos of life?

Let us be willing martyrs for Christ and his mission, seek after the heart of Christ and firmly believe in Christ for transformation of life even if it be full of crisis and chaos. Amen.

Happy Feast St. Thomas! God bless us all!

Live Jesus

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS