May 2, 2014
Doubting Thomas … The very name history has bestowed upon the Apostle Thomas is indeed pejorative. We still use the phrase today to describe someone whose faith seems lacking, whose faith seems less than others or ours. But I believe that is some strange way, Thomas can be a model for us, a model for the kind of faithful witness so necessary in the Northwest and other places where so many are unchurched and many more once baptized Catholics live with a faith that is quite dormant. Thomas wasn’t from Missouri, but he could have been. The phrase “I’m from Missouri,” the “show me” state, is another way of saying that actions speak louder than words. St. Francis of Assisi himself could also have been from the “show me””state, as exemplified when he sent the brothers out to preach the Good News. He told them: “Preach the Gospel. And when you’re stuck, use words.” Thomas’ faith was indeed very human. It needed human experience to strengthen it and make it whole. For Thomas, faith was not merely an intellectual assent. He had lived with Jesus, walked and talked with Jesus, shared a campfire or two, and was indeed physically touched by the life and death of Jesus. He needed again to be touched by experiencing Jesus’ healing words and loving hands before his faith could be enlivened. Thomas’ faith was a faith that dared to questions and in questioning found answers and in answers grew deeper as time went on. Thomas’ dormant faith was indeed enlivened by the experience of the risen Jesus, as early Church memories tell us how he went on to be a great missionary and apostle, bringing as far east as India. Let us remember Thomas as we seek to share our faith with others. Let us remember it is never enough to just tell people about Jesus or about how our faith helps us through each day. We have to help others experience our faith by the good deeds we do and by the love of Jesus they experience through us and our words and deeds.