Poor Thomas! He made one remark and has been branded as “Doubting Thomas” ever since.
I am sure that in our lives we have said or done things that weren’t necessarily the most admirable. What a tragedy if that one event overtook our whole lives, and we became known as “Angry Gary” or “Snarky Sue” !!
You and I are so very much more that our moments of weakness. And so too was Thomas. Yes, he doubted, but he also believed. Thomas made what is certainly the most explicit statement of faith in the New Testament: “My Lord and My God!” and, in so expressing his faith, gave Christians a prayer that will be said until the end of time. And how fitting it is that those are the words we say when we behold Jesus in the Eucharist!
Thomas shares the lot of Peter the impetuous, James and John, the “sons of thunder,” Philip and his foolish request to see the Father—indeed all the apostles in their weakness and lack of understanding.
But their human weakness points to the fact that holiness is a gift of God, not a human creation; it is given to ordinary men and women with weaknesses; it is God who gradually transforms the weaknesses into the image of Christ, the courageous, trusting, and loving one.
You and I are ordinary people with ordinary weaknesses living in an extraordinary time. Perhaps today we can ask God to transform our weaknesses so that we can face today’s challenges in a courageous way, a trusting way, a loving way.