Catechism Links[1]
 |
| “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas“ by Caravaggio, 1601-1602 |
Note: In 2016, this Feast will supersede the Solemnity of
the Fourteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time for Saint Thomas the Apostle Church.
Readings and
Commentary:[5]
Reading 1: Ephesians 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Eph
2:19-22
In this passage, St. Paul
describes the unity brought about among all believers in Christ. This unity is
formed under a common teaching flowing from the Hebrew Prophets, through the
Apostles, to Christ himself, who is described as the “capstone” or cornerstone.
This unity of spirit becomes the Church, the “dwelling place for God in the
Spirit.” The Church, in turn, is the unity of all Christians, those who
were formerly Jews, and those who were formerly Gentiles. They are, says the
apostle, joined through Christ on the same road to the Kingdom of God. They
share the same foundation of faith, transmitted to them through the Apostles,
and held firm by Christ the “capstone.” Together they form the “Temple of
the Spirit,” the essential understanding that the Church is the mystical
Body of Christ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 117:1bc, 2
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good
News.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the
world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness for us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the
world and tell the Good News.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
117:1bc, 2
“This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge
God's supremacy. The supremacy of Israel's God has been demonstrated to them by
the people's secure existence, which is owed entirely to God's gracious
fidelity.”[6] Using a responsorial refrain
from St. Mark’s Gospel, the psalm is one of praise for the Good News of God’s
salvation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading
II: Hebrews 11:1-7
Brothers and sisters:
Faith is the realization of what
is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were
well attested.
By faith we understand that the
universe was ordered by the word of God,
so that what is visible came into
being through the invisible.
By faith Abel offered to God a
sacrifice greater than Cain’s.
Through this, he was attested to
be righteous,
God bearing witness to his gifts,
and through this, though dead, he
still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so
that he should not see death,
and he was found no more because
God had taken him.
Before he was taken up, he was
attested to have pleased God.
But without faith it is
impossible to please him,
for anyone who approaches God
must believe that he exists
and that he rewards those who
seek him.
By faith Noah, warned about what
was not yet seen,
with reverence built an ark for
the salvation of his household.
Through this, he condemned the
world
and inherited the righteousness
that comes through faith.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Heb 11:1-7
The beginning of this reading
gives us a classic definition of faith: “Faith is the realization of what is
hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” We note that this definition
describes what faith does rather than a pure theological description. “Through
faith God guarantees the blessings to be hoped for from him, providing evidence
in the gift of faith that what he promises will eventually come to pass."[7] Looking at the translation
above it is instructive to look at the same verse as translated in the Jerusalem
Bible: “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove
the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.”
The author goes on to applaud the
faith of Old Testament figures. “The 'Praise
of the Ancestors,' in Sirach 44:1-50:21, gives a similar list of heroes.
The Cain and Abel narrative in Genesis 4:1-16 does not mention Abel's faith. It says,
however, that God 'looked with favor on Abel and his offering' (Genesis 4, 4); in
view of v 6 the author probably understood God's favor to have been activated by
Abel's faith. Though dead, he still speaks, possibly because his blood 'cries
out to me from the soil' (Genesis 4:10), but
more probably a way of saying that the repeated story of Abel provides ongoing
witness to faith.”[8]
A major point of this selection
is that Christians must believe, not only that God exists, but that he wants
behavior from them consistent with his decrees. To fail in this is a denial of
truth, defined in the Hebrew Scriptures as folly (see Psalm 53).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the
Lord."
But Thomas said to them,
"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with
you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see
my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe."
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my
God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because
you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jn
20:24-29
This story from St. John’s Gospel
is set just after Mary Magdalene has brought news to the disciples of the Risen
Christ, and his appearance to them in the locked room. He (the Lord) has
departed and now Thomas returns to find his friends speaking of Jesus’ return
from the dead.
Thomas acquires his nickname
("Doubting Thomas") by doubting what the other disciples tell him,
and he persists in doing so until the Lord again comes to the locked upper room.
To his credit, following the Lord’s own challenge, St. Thomas applies to Jesus
the title “My Lord and my God.” It is the first time this title,
reserved for God the Father, is given to the Son, proclaiming his divinity. The
passage concludes with Jesus acknowledging the title, but praising those not
present who will believe in him without requiring physical proof.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
On July 12,
1835, or 181 years ago, about a block west of here, Father Patrick O’Kelly
celebrated the first Mass for the small Irish Catholic faith community in Ann
Arbor that would become St. Thomas the Apostle Church. 64 years later, in 1899, this building was
dedicated when Bishop Foley from Detroit started with prayer:
O Lord God,
who although the heavens and earth cannot contain Thee, are pleased to have thy
dwelling on earth, in which thy name may be perpetually invoked; we beseech
Thee, by the merits of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, of Thy Apostle Saint
Thomas, and all Thy Saints, visit this place with thy benign clemency, and
purify it by the infusion of Thy grace, from all defilement and preserve it undefiled;
and O Thou who didst satisfy the devotion of Thy beloved David in the
performance of his son Solomon, be pleased to hearken to our petitions and
banish hence all spiritual wickedness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth
and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Amen.
I was not
able to find a record of what motivated our forefathers in faith to choose St.
Thomas the Apostle as patron. But we
pray that the living tradition of faith which has been handed down to us is
pleasing to our parish patron, whose feast we celebrate today.
From a scriptural
perspective, not much is known about St. Thomas. His name occurs in all the lists of the
Synoptics (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but, as we heard,
in St. John’s Gospel he plays a distinctive part.
First, when
Jesus announced his intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus,
"Thomas" who is called Didymus [the twin], thinking about the danger
to Jesus in Judea, loyally said to his fellow disciples: "Let us also go to die with him” (John
11:16). (As a side note, Thomas is thought to have been called “the twin”
because he strongly resembled Jesus, not because he was a twin.
Again it was
St. Thomas who during the discourse before the Last Supper raised an objection:
"Thomas said to him, ‘Master, we do not know where you are going; how can
we know the way?’" (John 14:5).
But more
especially St. Thomas is remembered for his incredulity, proclaimed on his feast,
when the other Apostles announced Christ's Resurrection to him: "Unless I
see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe." (John 20:25); but eight
days later he made his act of faith professing “My Lord and my God.” Even so, the Lord chided him saying: "Have
you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and have believed." (John 20:29).
What does the
scriptural record say about the faith of our patron? He is continually saying more than he knows. When he suggested that the disciples should
go and die with him in Judea, he could not have known that, in light of what
was to happen, all Christians would die with Christ and rise with him at the
resurrection. He was the first to
identify Christ as God in his profession of faith, even though he doubted,
winning him the unfortunate nick-name “doubting Thomas” that has followed him
since.
We see in
what is known of his later ministry that St. Thomas was not always in agreement
with his brother Apostles. According to tradition, when the Apostles were
planning their evangelistic directions, St. Thomas was selected to go to
India. He immediately objected, saying
he could not go. At this point, his
Master, Jesus, appeared in a supernatural way to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor,
an Indian king, and sold Thomas to him to be his slave and serve Gundafor as a
carpenter.
When he
arrived in India, his apostolic zeal took over and he accomplished great works
throughout then norther part of the continent.
He finally converted the wife and son of a local king who, again,
according to tradition, had our patron executed by four of his soldiers who
used spears to kill him.
How
fortunate we are to have so human a patron.
His less than perfect faith allows us to identify with him. As we heard in the Letter to the Hebrews:” Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of
things not seen.” And faith is a gift
from God, freely given but in different measures. It is a very fortunate few who have not had doubts
about God, his presence, and his promise. For many of us logic wars with faith,
and we are forced to overcome our own disbelief, fighting to force a reluctant
mind to embrace what we know in our hearts is true. Yes, we believe. But do we all not wish we could have the Lord
stand in front of us so that we could see the nail marks in his hands and put
our hand into his side?
It is a
great blessing for us to know that one as flawed as we are in faith could be
loved so deeply by our Lord and Savior. Today we rejoice in God’s gift of St.
Thomas. He struggled to understand and
in the end received the martyr’s crown, his faith ultimately saved him. We consider those who have worshiped in this
space for the past hundred and fifteen years and think of all the prayers
offered up, asking our patron for intercede on their behalf. Today we add our prayers to theirs as we ask
him to help our unbelief so that we, like him might offer up the profession:
“My Lord and my God.”
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic
Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2]
The picture is “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas“ by Caravaggio, 1601-1602
[3]
On Sunday, the second reading from Hebrews is added.
[5]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[6]
See NAB footnote on Psalm 117
[7]
See NAB footnote on Hebrews 11:1-40
[8]
See NAB footnote on Hebrews 11:4
No comments:
Post a Comment