Today, we celebrate the Feast of our parish’s patron saint, but what do we know about Thomas the Apostle?
Today we celebrate the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, the Patron of our Parish. St Thomas was also known as Didymus, which means the twin. St John speaks the most about him in his Gospel and makes reference to him three times. Firstly, in St John 11:16 when Jesus was going to visit the dead Lazarus whom he raised, St Thomas said “let us go and die with him”. In St John 14:5, Jesus says to the Apostles “do you know the way to the place where I am going” and St Thomas is puzzled but courageous and bold enough to ask Jesus, “Lord we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way”
Finally, St Thomas was not with the other Apostles when the Risen Jesus appeared to them. He was reluctant to believe. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and place my finger in their mark and place my hand in his side, I will not believe”. Eight days later the Risen Jesus appears and St Thomas is a witness. Jesus invites St Thomas to carry out his demands but St Thomas makes one of the most explicit professions of faith in the New Testament “My Lord and my God”. (St John 20:24-29).
Tradition suggests that St Thomas reached Southern India where he preached and was martyred. Christians in the district of Kerala say they are descended from his converts. There is a sixth century cross which speaks of St Thomas in an inscription and it is in the Church of Mylapore, near Madras, India.
St Thomas has been unfortunately branded Doubting Thomas for 21 centuries. We have to remember that his initial doubts led to a deep faith and a complete giving of his life to Jesus. The Apostles like all of us were not ready made and perfect individuals but allowed themselves to be fashioned and shaped for ministry by the Lord. The Lord transformed their weaknesses into strengths.
May St Thomas bless our Parish especially today and gain for us all many blessings from the Lord he served so faithfully.
St Augustine on St Thomas
“Thomas saw and touched the man, and acknowledged the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the means of what he saw and touched, he now put far away from him every doubt, and believed the other”
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