July 3 2024 - St. Thomas the Apostle - Doubt and Faith

 Doubt. For his moment of incredulity, St. Thomas is associated with doubt. Is doubt good or bad? Well, that depends. 

Doubt can sometimes be a very good thing.  If we believed every advertisement, every swindler and snake oil salesman, and scam artist, we would be broke. If we believed every new age guru, self-help expert, alien abductee, we’d be drawn away from the truth of Christ. If we believed everything we heard, every exaggerating politician or family member, then our mind would be filled with so many contradictory ideas, we wouldn’t be able to function.  In an era of fake news, Artificial Intelligence created deep-fakes, and internet scams, doubt can be a very good thing.

Our justice system requires us to doubt a person’s guilt; we are to presume innocence unless it can be disproven beyond a reasonable doubt. Scripture even tells us to be on guard against false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, and those who only tell us what we want to hear.

On the other hand, Scripture condemns the sort of doubt that undermines our faith in God.

The letter of James says, “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind”. When St. Peter began to sink after walking toward Jesus on the water, the Lord says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt” St. Paul writes to the Romans, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Doubt which preserves us from being duped and swindled and taken advantage of—that’s the good sort of doubt; and then there is the sinful doubt which keeps us from putting our faith in God, that’s the bad kind of doubt.

But notice, in his alleged doubt, Thomas possesses an openness to the truth. “If I can see his wounds, I will believe.” 

The catechism differentiates between voluntary and involuntary doubt. One is sinful, one is not. Catechism says, Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated, doubt can lead to spiritual blindness (CCC 2088).

Voluntary doubt about matters of faith is truly dangerous. It is a violation of the first commandment which “requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it” (CCC 2088). It is a sin against faith. In the face of involuntary doubt, we, like Apostle Thomas, need to seek the Truth, to be open to the Truth, and when Truth is made known, we are to change our life accordingly. 

And St. Thomas did that, to a heroic degree. After Pentecost, he marched across the known earth, preaching the Good News to the Persians and Medes, until he reached India, where he evangelized and was eventually martyred in 72 A.D. by those who refused to believe.

May we who have come to believe through the testimony of the apostles, through the intercession of St. Thomas, come to that blessedness promised by our Lord, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that like St. Thomas, we may boldly proclaim our faith in the risen Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those struggling with doubt, that through the example of St. Thomas, they may find renewed faith and trust in God. Let us pray to the Lord.

For missionaries around the world, inspired by St. Thomas's journey to India, that they may courageously share the Gospel. Let us pray to the Lord.

For architects and builders, under the patronage of St. Thomas, that their work may glorify God and serve humanity. Let us pray to the Lord.

For unity among Christians, that we may heal divisions and work together to build up the Body of Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our community, that we may grow in faith and be willing to touch the wounds of Christ in those who suffer. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death: may God, through the loving mercy of the Precious Blood of Jesus, be close to them in their trials.

And that all those redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus may come to the glory of heaven, especially X for whom this mass is offered.

Gracious Father, hear our prayers, through the intercession of St. Thomas the Apostle, grant us what we truly need to strengthen our faith, deepen our trust, and open our eyes to Your presence among us. Make us your servants to the ends of the earth, through Christ our Lord.

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.
 
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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.

July 3 2019 - St. Thomas the Apostle - Freedom from doubt

On this eve of our nation’s Independence Day, we celebrate the feast of the apostle Thomas. Thomas in a sense is a model for freedom, ultimate freedom. For where doubt once dominated, faith granted freedom.

What was it that allowed Thomas to become free from his doubts? The encounter with the risen Jesus Christ.

Earlier in the Gospel, Thomas expressed his willingness to follow the Lord unto death. 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.”

Yet, where was he when the Lord climbed the hill of Calvary? The cross certainly filled Thomas with doubt. The news of Jesus’ death caused doubt to dominate. But that encounter with the risen Christ brought Thomas a new freedom and a new faith. As he touched the nail marks of the risen Christ he was freed.

Accounts from the 3rd century tell of Thomas’ apostolic and missionary works in hat is modern day Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and of course his missionary activity led him to India where he was martyred when he crossed the Indian King.

Freedom, discovered through the divine encounter, impelled him to preach the Gospel that all men might be free.

Thomas is a model for us, to endeavor to open our minds and hearts to the divine encounter, in prayer and in the sacraments. And having encounter Christ in our prayer, in our reception of his body and blood in the eucharist, in the mercy of the confessional, we are freed from our own fears and doubts to go and proclaim the Gospel in our words and deeds.

May all those who lack faith, through the prayerful intercession of the Apostle Thomas come to a life-changing encounter with Christ, and may he help us all to be free from all that keeps us from witnessing to Christ with zeal for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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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 N., for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

6th Week in OT 2019 - Be on guard against leaven

Throughout Mark’s Gospel, the disciples are consistently misunderstanding Jesus’ teachings, they are slow to understand who He is, and the implications of His presence with them.

St. Mark records the disciples failure to understand Jesus’ parable of the sower. After Jesus calms the storm on the sea of Galilee, they question “Who is this guy, who even commands storms”? They were completely baffled by Jesus when he later walks toward them on the water. And Jesus lumps the disciples in with the Pharisees who do not understand his teaching about purity and the tradition of the elders.

Today, Jesus is aware of their anxiety over only having one loaf of bread. Jesus then warns them to guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. The Pharisees consistently are filled with doubt, hardheartedness, failure to fully believe in Jesus. All these things, Jesus warns will cause you to be spiritually blind, like the Pharisees, to His true identity, to His mission, to His power. And Herod? We heard of Herod’s adultery, his ego, and permission to murder John the Baptist. The leaven of Herod is the moral cowardice, the violation of the moral law which blinds us to the truth of Jesus’ law of Love.

Jesus says we must guard against these things. We must guard against the things that cause us doubt and hard-heartedness toward the Gospel, and also the breaking of the moral law. Popular culture bombards the senses with error and examples of moral error. Whenever we turn on the television or go on the internet we must guard ourselves from anything that will cause hardness in us toward the Gospel. Whenever we have conversations with non-believers or Christians of weak or compromised faith, we need to be on guard toward error.

How many Catholics live together before marriage because that’s what the culture expects? How many don’t go to Mass because of the culture’s attitude toward religion? How many young Catholic college students lose their faith because of the errors and morals of the college campus? How many parents fail to teach their children to pray, to confess their sins because of prevailing culture attitudes?

Be on guard! We guard our minds and hearts from the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod by studying the faith, studying the word of God, studying what the Church teaches and why she teaches it. And by coming to Mass and recommitting to Jesus that our faith may be strong, that we may be courageous in the face of hostility and temptation, that we may keep the word of the Lord in all things, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. We pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way, especially those effected by hurricanes and storms.  We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased clergy and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.