Poor Saint Thomas the Apostle! Whenever his name is heard, one tends to
think of a skeptic, a doubter. We even
call people “doubting Thomas’s”. There
is much more to know about this apostle than his one moment of doubt, just as
there is much more to know about Peter than his denial.
Before his moment of doubt, earlier in the Gospel of
John. When Jesus heard of the death of
Lazarus, he exhorted his apostles to follow him to Bethany, which would bring
them dangerously close to Jerusalem. On
that occasion Thomas said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may
die with him.”
His determination to follow the Master is truly exemplary
and offers us a valuable lesson: it reveals Thomas’ total readiness to stand by
Jesus even to the point sharing with him the supreme trial of death. And that
readiness is follow the Lord anywhere is a fundamental disposition of
discipleship. “This is a trustworthy saying”, writes St. Paul: “If we die with him,
we will also live with him.”
In the Scriptures, there are no further accounts of the
apostle Thomas, after his acclamation at seeing and touching the resurrected
Jesus: “My Lord and My God”.
Accounts from the 3rd century tell of Thomas’
apostolic and missionary activity in modern day Iran, Iraq, and
Afghanistan. And accounts from the
fourth century tell us of his work in western and finally Southern India where
he was martyred.
The story goes that a pagan indian king, upon meeting the
apostle, immediately put great trust in him and hired him as a royal
architect. Because of this, St. Thomas
is the patron saint of architects.
Anyway, the king put at Thomas’ disposal the great wealth of his
treasury for planning and building the new royal palace. But Thomas donated the entire sum to the poor,
telling the King, that this way he builds a greater palace in heaven. For this Thomas was forgiven when the king’s
dead brother appeared to the king and testified to the reality and glory of the
heavenly palace.
Thomas was martyred, however, when he converted the king’s
many wives to Christ and persuaded them to remain abstinent because Christian
marriage is between one man and one woman.
In a sense then, Thomas was a martyr for authentic
marriage. After the Supreme Court ruling
two weeks ago, changing the civil definition of marriage, many claim that
polygamy is the next hurdle to overcome.
The Apostle Thomas rightly and boldly passed on Christ’s
teaching concerning the moral conduct of his followers even though it would
bring about the king’s wrath. Thomas the
apostle shows us the courage to which Catholics are called. The courage and willingness to follow Jesus
anywhere: In front of kings and judges and presidents, the boldness to speak
the truth of Christ no matter the consequence.
We pray that we may not cave in to the growing trends of secularism in
our society, but strong in faith and courageous in defending the right to live
our faith, and follow Christ with zeal, like Thomas, for the glory of God and
salvation of souls.
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