FEAST OF ST. THOMAS, APOSTLE - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Jesus said: ‘You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ JN 20:29

JEREMIAH 1:4-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

By virtue of our baptism, each one of us is a missionary, to each is given the command to preach the Gospel in season and out of season. We have become extremely adept at offering a convincing argument as to why we are to be excused from this great commission. We are often like Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and so many others in the Bible who argue with You that this call is not for us like the guests in the parable who were invited to the wedding feast.  

When You call us You equip us. When we say, yes, to Your call You fill us with Your Holy Spirit and we have to say and do nothing just allow Him to do it all through us. We can be most effective as witnesses to the Gospels by being still and allowing God to do it all through us.

There is no excuse we can make before God for not being salt and light in the world.

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
before you came to birth I consecrated you;
I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.’

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me: ‘There! I am putting my words into your mouth.’

PSALM 117:1-2 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

I was created to be Your disciple. I was commissioned by You to preach the Good News by my life. Every single word I speak, every action, every interaction with family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and everyone I meet as I carry out my daily duties according to my state in life is an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel by my life.

What is the Good News that the whole world needs to know and through ignorance of it is hurting, suffering, and dying a slow agonizing, spiritual and emotional death? 

It is this: 

God's love for us is stronger than death and He is faithful forever.

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. JN 3:16

EPHESIANS 2:19-22 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We are living in an age in history when one is tempted to feel shame to confess and profess that one is Catholic. The terrible scandals committed by priests, religious, those in authority,  who betrayed and denied You in every way, just as grievously as Judas and Peter did, are tumbling out ad infinitum, ad nauseam, like the proverbial Pandora's box. 

Members of the Church have played the harlot over and over and over again and like scum rising to the surface, all is now made visible to the world with every gory detail being uncovered and revealed for public scrutiny. We who are members of Your Body are at the receiving end of very righteous, public anger even though we are as horrified as the rest of the world we are covered in shame, anger, and anguish. and shame.  The sins of some are the sins of all for we are members of Your Body. 

We are members of God's household, we are citizens of heaven, we are called to be saints. We are part of the glorious heritage that has its foundation on the Apostles, Peter as its rock, and You, its main cornerstone. As St. Paul phrases it with such beautiful clarity:  As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.

It is right, fitting, and necessary that every evil, shameful, vile, diabolic deed is made public. The Church must suffer as You already have, You made atonement for all her sins, and now we must suffer and atone for them as well. We unite our suffering, and our shame in atonement for our own sins, the sins of the Church, and the whole world. 

May we never lose sight of this truth that although Your Church is a hospital for sinners it is also Your Body and the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.

JOHN 20:24-29 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The world is often like Thomas, it demands material proof, like
him, the world says, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’

And many in the world do not believe in You. Thomas was one of the Twelve. He knew You. He lived with You for three years. He was a witness to the amazing miracles You performed and yet, he said, he would not believe unless he touched each of Your wounds.

Thomas' saving grace is that when You invited him to do exactly what he said he wanted to do, he fell on his knees acutely embarrassed and shamefaced and said, 'My Lord and my God.' 

Your response is one of the most comforting and enthralling things You have said, ‘You believe because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

I believe My Lord and my God and believing I am blessed.