Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle. This is the Thomas we call “doubting” because he did not believe his fellow apostles when they told him they had seen the Risen Lord. I remember as a young boy thinking how much easier it would be to believe if I could just see the Risen Lord. However it did seem a bit rude and unusual to me that Thomas would insist on putting his fingers into the nail marks and his hand into Jesus’ side.
Today, I think the 2,000-year-old tradition of faith that has been handed down from generation to generation is perhaps even stronger than seeing with my own eyes. Just imagine the person who was most instrumental in helping you believe and the person who did the same for him or her. This line stretches all the way back to the apostles who went throughout the world spreading the Good News of God’s love. Thomas himself, traveled all the way to India.
Faith and belief is a gift from God. It is a gift that God delivers through the people in our lives. In my own case I immediately think of my parents, my siblings, my friends, and many Jesuits. This gift of faith is not a once forever event, rather it happens day after day. With Ignatian spirituality, we are gifted that we are encouraged to see God in all things. Our faith is incarnational, it is in the world. God is present in all creation.
Let’s pray for the eyes to see and the ears to hear God present in our lives.
—David McNulty is the Provincial Assistant for Advancement, Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuits