July 3 2020 - St. Thomas the Apostle - Suspension of Doubt

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”.  Maybe that makes him relatable. His doubt came after the experience of Good Friday, after seeing His Master crucified. It appeared that evil had been victorious. It appeared to his senses that death had won.

Many Christians throughout the centuries, looking around and seeing the powers of death, destruction, and division, have at least for brief moments, been overcome with doubt. Doubt giving rise to the question, “how could God allow this”, “where is God in all this?” “why doesn’t God put an end to all this suffering?”

Many atheists look to the Church and kind of scoff at our claim that God is real, God is love, Jesus Christ is victorious over the powers of death, much like Thomas kind of scoffed at the claim that Jesus was risen and that he appeared to them. “Show me” Thomas said.

Now after all, the witness of the apostles locked in the upper room, wasn’t quite that credible. After all, they were still locked in the upper room out of fear. They weren’t out in the streets proclaiming. They weren’t out in the world spreading the Gospel. They weren’t yet filled with that animating Spirit.

Had Thomas encountered this group after Pentecost and seen their conviction and courage and fire, perhaps he would not have doubted.

You may see where I am going with this. The Church is to be that credible witness that Thomas longed for in his moment of doubt. You and I are to be that credible witness the atheist sees in the world and perhaps begins to doubt his own doubt, question his assumptions. The Christian animated with the fire of the Spirit is to cause the doubters in the world to consider for a moment, maybe what they say is true, after all, look at their life, where in fact does that fervor come from, the fervor which I am lacking in my own life.

Sure many people are driven, there are driven by anger, impatience, and greed or even a sense to fight injustice, the desire for justice is a natural desire after all. But Christians out in the world, performing righteous deeds, preaching and standing for truth, clothing the naked and instructing the ignorant, we are to be that credible witness which gives rise to the suspension of doubt in the good God, that amidst all the evil and suffering in the world, Christ is Risen and He is victorious for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - -
Since we will not have Mass tomorrow, you will use today the beautiful petitions composed for the inauguration of President George Washington by Archbishop John Carroll, First Roman Catholic bishop in our country whose brother Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through Whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy holy spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of the United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. We pray to the Lord.

Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty. We pray to the Lord.

We pray for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they maybe enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability. We pray to the Lord.

We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. We pray to the Lord.
And we pray especially for all of our countrymen who have gone before us in faith, for all those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, for all the of the deceased members of our family and friends, and for Ruth & Charles Cramer, for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.