They often call St. Thomas the doubting apostle, but do you realize how daunting, not doubting, he and many of his namesakes have been?
Thomas the apostle is quoted only four times in the New Testament and all four times in the Gospel according to John.
– When Jesus heard the news of the death of Lazarus, he was across the Jordan, After two days, he decided to risk returning to Judea. The disciples counseled him not to go, reminding him that many wanted to stone him to death. It was Thomas who bravely, maybe brashly, rebuked his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”
– During the last supper, Jesus spoke to the apostles about his “going away” and their ultimately rejoining him. It was Thomas who bluntly questioned him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”
– After Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to the apostles in Thomas’s absence, Thomas boldly demanded proof of what they excitedly were telling him: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
– A week later, when he saw the risen Jesus with his own eyes, he attested, “My Lord and my God!”
It was this same Thomas who proclaimed the Good News to the east, who went to the scattered Jewish trading posts in southern India and, as Paul in the West, preached first to his fellow Jews and then to the local folk, implanting Christianity in India.
Doubting is a mischaracterization of Thomas the apostle—a better description would be fair-minded, logical, reasonable, courageous, dedicated, and dauntless!
Many a holy namesake of his had similar qualities, like Thomas Becket, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas à Kempis, Thomas More, and many more.
Two of them were the subjects of beautiful and very moving films, “Becket” and “A Man for All Seasons”.
Thomas Becket (1118-1170), the unlikely saint (as are most such), although ordained a deacon in his youth, was a rogue and great friend of King Henry II of England.
Henry, needing more support and less interference from the churchmen of his day, decided on a master-stroke—to make his bosom buddy both Chancellor of England and head of the English Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Thomas demurred, warning the king against it, but, once given the role and responsibility of archbishop, he carried them out unreservedly, ultimate being first exiled and then martyred because of it.
Another fair-minded, logical, reasonable, courageous, dedicated, and dauntless Thomas!
The relationship of Thomas More (1478-1535) and King Henry VIII had some similarities. King Henry wanted a male heir, but was childless. He needed to divorce his wife and seek another, but, impeded by the church discipline and authorities, he broke with Rome, declaring himself supreme head of the English Church.
His intended master-stroke was to make his modest, respected, lawyer friend Thomas More the Chancellor of England, counting on Thomas’s full support for his decisions.
However Thomas More was fair-minded, logical, reasonable, courageous, dedicated, and dauntless. He couldn’t back his royal friend and was beheaded for it, for his integrity and overwhelming honesty.
Maybe you’re not a Thomas, but qualities like these could help make you a saint, too!
10 January 2021