Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 3, 2025 - July 3 - St. Thomas, Apostle
[Eph 2:19-22 and John 20:24-29]You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. [Ephesians] "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" [John]
The noble vision of the Letter to the Ephesians is recalled every Sunday and solemn feast day in the Nicene Creed in which we profess our faith in "one, holy, catholic and APOSTOLIC church." We celebrate today the feast of one of the apostles, Thomas, who has been tagged with the nickname of "Doubting Thomas" because he refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he (Thomas) could personally inspect him! Jesus obliged and Thomas replied with the profession of faith that we know so well.
The gospels make it clear that Jesus did not choose the most pious and religiously observant Jews to be his closest collaborators. He picked the rawest material to work with - fishermen (Peter, James and John), a tax collector (Matthew [Levi]), a couple of chronic skeptics (Thomas and Nathaniel [Bartholomew]). The apostles were a mixed bag, but their faith is the faith we profess. The Letter to the Ephesians today includes us in their company! The "church" is not a finished product. It is a constant work in progress as the recent Synod on Synodality has shown. The Body of Christ shares in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus through the celebration of the Eucharist. Thomas the apostle was an eyewitness to those events. His profession of faith continues to be a "preaching" of the gospel in which we continually join. AMEN