Homily for Friday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II
Theme: DOUBT NO MORE BUT BELIEVE
By: Rev. Fr. Jacob Aondover ATSU
Homily for Friday July 3 2020
FEAST OF ST THOMAS APOSTLE
READINGS: EPHESIANS 2:19-22, PSALM 117, JOHN 20:24-29
For my love for Saint Thomas, I make today one of my feast days. I love the apostle Thomas so much because his disbelieving nature made Jesus say to me “Blessed are you Jacob Aondover Atsu who have not seen me, yet believe” (Jn.20:29). I bless God today therefore for the gift of St. Thomas who earned for us today’s believers the blessings of Christ.
St. Gregory the Great once said: “By this doubting of Thomas we are more confirmed in our belief than by the faith of the other apostles”. 1Peter 1:3-9 says of those who have not seen Christ yet love and believe him “…for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls”. It was also his naive question at the Last Supper; “Lord we do not know where you are going so how can we know the way?” (Jn. 14:5), that has made me and of course all of us aware that Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (Jn. 14:6). Moreover, this saint of God has won my admiration because of his swiftness at professing belief in Christ whom he’d doubted hitherto. I too have come to know that the dryness I experience sometimes spiritually shouldn’t be long lasting. Rather, I should swiftly turn to God and professing my faith in him, he’d accept and bless me.
Thomas, “te’ oma”, his Aramaic name, Didymos in Greek meaning the twin was an unlearned Galilean fisherman, called by Christ to be his apostle. Though prominent for his doubt of the resurrection, he had great love for Jesus and was ready to die with him. When Lazarus had just died and Jesus wanted to visit his house, the other apostles were afraid of being stoned by the Judaean Jews, Thomas however was not: he said, “Let us go also, that we may die with him!” (Lk. 11:16). Of course, he later died a martyr’s death at a place called Calamine; he was speared to death. His love for Jesus and zeal to spread his message took him as far as Medes, Persia and its neighbourhood and India; indeed, he loved Christ to the death.
Thomas teaches us today to love our Lord Jesus Christ to the death. That we love his message and spread it abroad wherever we may be. He reminds us that we must not be literate to be advocates of Christ; no matter how academically backward we are, our disposition towards the good news is what counts. He is regarded as the patron of architects and builders.
We pray through the intercession of St. Thomas for all those having issues with their faith, that Christ may manifest himself to them and confirm the little faith they have. And for those confused about issues of doctrine and practices of the Church, may Christ, the way, the truth and the life, enlighten, inform and lead them unto the right path. Amen.
FEED THE HUNGRY POOR