Feast of St. Thomas Homily

1st Reading: Eph 2:19-22

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 117:1-2

Gospel: Jn 20:24-29

Today we gather to celebrate the feast of the apostle, Saint Thomas. Saint Thomas, of course, is often referred to as "Doubting Thomas" due to his lack of ability to realize that this was Christ who was standing before him. This title of course takes away from our ability to realize that Thomas was able to reach out and touch a man and realize that he was something more. Saint Thomas reached out and touched the wounds of Christ and was able to express the divinity of Christ that was found inside of this man. Through his expression of faith he was professing that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.

He responded "My Lord and my God!" when he came to this profound realization. Today we come to this Mass to respond in the same manner as we present ourselves to receive Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We come here to present ourselves before our Lord and to allow Him to enter into our lives in this most profound manner. Our expression is the same because we realize that Christ was both human and divine and continues to bring this reality into our lives. No matter how much doubt that may exist in our lives; the truth remains the same that Christ was fully human and divine and comes to dwell with us here in the Blessed Sacrament.

According to the now Venerable Fulton Sheen, Saint Thomas " who was the last to believe, was the first to make the full confession of the Divinity of the Savior... some gratitude must always be credited to Thomas, who touched Christ as a man, but believed in him as a God." Each of us can learn a lot from Saint Thomas because he experienced the doubt that we all experience in our lives, but he was also able to reach out in faith and express that this man whom he touched was truly God. Through his intercession may we reach out in faith and grow closer to coming to understand that this is God who we desire to grow closer to in our lives.