Do Not Be Unbelieving, But Believe

Gospel Reflection for July 3rd, 2024, Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

The Incredulity of St. Thomas, Carravagio. Public Domain

Today is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle and the Gospel that we hear today is probably the one most associated with him. According to St. John, Thomas was not among the Apostles when Our Lord first appeared to them on Easter Sunday. As a result of this, he was doubtful of the claim of resurrection:

“But Thomas said to them, ‘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

No doubt, St. Thomas is stigmatized by this moment of incredulity for the rest of time, after all, how many times have we referred to this great saint as The Doubting Thomas? In reality, Thomas goes to great lengths in his life to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile nations.

A week later, Our Lord, again, appears to His apostles and Thomas is with them. Christ invites Thomas to satisfy the criteria he had set forth, that he must inspect the marks of the crucifixion. In his commentary on this passage, St. Thomas Aquinas draws attention to the fact that the wounds of the crucifixion remain in the glorified body of Christ. This is a curious fact as one would think that a risen and glorified body ought to have no defect. Aquinas affirms that one of the reasons that Christ kept His wounds was to rescue St. Thomas from his unbelief:

“…note that Thomas laid down his own conditions for believing, which were that he see and feel Christ’s wounds, as was said. If these conditions were met, he promised to believe. So, our Lord, helping him by the presence of His divinity, rescued him by meeting these conditions.”¹

Aquinas explains that Christ essentially meets Thomas where he was at. After the trauma of the Crucifixion and the apparent snuffing out of hope, Our Lord restores faith to Thomas. This faith is professed by Thomas in the most precious words:

My Lord and my God!” John 20:28

Aquinas affirms that this acclamation of faith is two-fold:

“It seems that Thomas quickly becomes a good theologian by professing a true faith. He professed the humanity of Christ when he said, my Lord, for he had called Christ this before the passion… And he professed the divinity of Christ when he said, and my God. Before this, the only one who had called Christ God was Peter.”²

Truly, St. Thomas the Apostle ought to be remembered much more for this profession of faith than for his moment of doubt. This profession is one of repentance and immense faith in the risen Christ. This same profession would take him far beyond the reaches of the Roman Empire after the dispersion of the Apostles when he journeys all the way to India to evangelize.

Warren Carroll speaks very beautifully about St. Thomas and his selection for India. He writes:

“…the Apostle Thomas—once doubting, now forever sure; Thomas the Twin, a good, solid, rather unimaginative and hard-headed young Israelite who almost certainly had never been out of Palestine in his life. The hour of the dispersion of the Apostles came. Some traditions say the choice of countries was made by lot; we might guess at an assignment by Peter as head of the Church, or an individual choice by each apostle, we do not know. How the decision was made, Thoams’ assignment was India.”³

He was once doubting but is now forever sure. This is the St. Thomas that we remember today on his feast. India was an immensely dangerous place to go into alone. It was dedicated to the gods of destruction and death. It was here that St. Thomas was tasked with bringing the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The histories tell us that Thomas spent some time learning the languages and the beliefs of the Indian people in preparation for this great task. He was called back to Jerusalem in 49 for the final days of the Blessed Mother’s earthly life as well as the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem.⁴

With the council concluding, he leaves his home for the final time and journeys into India proper and arrives there around AD 52.⁵ From there, he brings the faith to the native people for the next 20 years. Evidence of this is found in the 16^th century when Jesuit missionaries landed in India thinking they were the first Christians to arrive, and they found a Catholic Community founded by St. Thomas the Apostle.

His martyrdom comes at the hands of worshipers of the goddess Kali. Carroll records:

“[Thomas] came eventually to the Mylapore on a barren part of the shore near the great city of Madras. Nearby was a temple of Kali, the Satanic goddess of death and dismemberment, patroness of the Stranglers. One day, in 72 AD, Thomas was praying in a cave on a hill called the Little Mount. Brahmins from the temple of Kali attacked him. One pierced his heart with a lance—just as Christ’s heart had been pierced, one of the wounds Thomas had demanded to touch before he would believe in the resurrection. He was buried at Mylapore, where ever since Indian Christians have venerated his tomb.”⁶

The Apostle who began in doubt but moved to an immense and certain faith, took refuge in the pierced side of His Lord and God. From there, he gives his life to bring that same crucified and risen Lord to the people of India, going so far as to die in imitation of Christ. Let us ask the Lord to allow us to reside close to His heart in His pierced side, just as St. Thomas the Apostle did so that we can affirm, with him, that Christ is my Lord and my God.

St. Thomas the Apostle, ora pro nobis!

1. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, C.20, L.6, 2556. St. Thomas also quotes St. Augustine in the same section, “Christ could have removed all traces of His wounds from His risen and glorified, but He had reasons for retaining them. First, to show them to Thomas, who would not believe unless he touched and saw. Again, He will use them to rebuke unbelievers and sinners at the judgment. He will not say to them, as he did to Thomas: because you have seen me, you have believed, but rather, to convict them: behold the man you have crucified, the wounds you have inflicted. Look at the side you have pierced. It was opened for your sake, and you refused to enter.” St. Augustine, On the Creed.

2. Ibid. 2562.

3. Warren Carroll, The Founding of Christendom: A History of Christendom, Vol. I, (Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 1985.) 407.

4. Ibid. 417.

5. Carroll writes that both Christian and Hindu records agree that Thomas arrived in Cranganore on the Malabar coast of India in 52. Ibid. Carroll records, “The tenacious memory of the Brahmins follows him. Their Keralolpattis tell how ‘Thoman, an opponent of all vedas’ came to the Malabar coast and converted ‘many prominent peoples of the land.’ The Nagargarandhravaryola of the family Kalathu Mana notes: ‘Kali year 3153 [AD 52] the foreigner Thomas Sanyasi came to our village, preached there causing pollution. We therefore came away from that village.” Ibid. 418.

6. Ibid. 419.