Gospel for July 03, 2009, Friday

13th Week in Ordinary Time
Thomas, Apostle

1st Reading: Eph 2:19–22
Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God. You are the house whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus. In him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

Gospel: Jn 20:24–29
Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Resist no longer and be a believer.”
Thomas then said, “You are my Lord and my God.” Jesus replied, “You believe because you see me, don’t you? Happy are those who have not seen and believe.”

REFLECTION
Saint Thomas was a pessimist. Some people rejoice to see a glass half-full, but Thomas saw it half-empty. He was full of courage; but he also possessed a streak of fatalism. On Good Friday, he had lost all hope as they hung his master on a cross on the Roman killing fields of Golgotha. Then again, Thomas….."Doubting Thomas", as he is sometimes called…..was the first disciple to put into words the truth that Jesus is both God and man. We Christians know that Jesus was divine; human, of course, but not only that: he was unique, the one human being in whom God was incarnate.
Because of that, we must never lose hope! Forgiveness of our sins is found through our identification with Jesus’ self-sacrifice. We need to think of Christianity as more inclusive than any single doctrine. There have been many movements in human history, initiated by those simple but wonderful events in Palestine, centering around the person of Jesus. The older we become, the more we grow in wonder at the enormous and diverse effects in human history that can be traced to the teachings, the deeds, the death and the resurrection of that one, single man……Jesus Christ!