Learning to trust in our doubts

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today frame teaching about God in personal faith experience.

Capstone 

Paul shares his experience in the Letter to the Ephesians that Christ is the capstone building a holy temple of God’s people where the divine presence dwells.

* [2:11–22] The Gentiles lacked Israel’s messianic expectation, lacked the various covenants God made with Israel, lacked hope of salvation and knowledge of the true God (Eph 2:11–12); but through Christ all these religious barriers between Jew and Gentile have been transcended (Eph 2:13–14) by the abolition of the Mosaic covenant-law (Eph 2:15) for the sake of uniting Jew and Gentile into a single religious community (Eph 2:15–16), imbued with the same holy Spirit and worshiping the same Father (Eph 2:18). The Gentiles are now included in God’s household (Eph 2:19) as it arises upon the foundation of apostles assisted by those endowed with the prophetic gift (Eph 3:5), the preachers of Christ (Eph 2:20; cf. 1 Cor 12:28). With Christ as the capstone (Eph 2:20; cf. Is 28:16; Mt 21:42), they are being built into the holy temple of God’s people where the divine presence dwells (Eph 2:21–22).

The proclamation of Thomas “My Lord and my God” connects the last chapter of the Gospel of John to the opening sentence.

* [20:28] My Lord and my God: this forms a literary inclusion with the first verse of the gospel: “and the Word was God.”

Uncle Raj shares inspirations and biblical connections inspired by the Gospel including Doubting Thomas aka Saint Thomas Putting his Finger on Christ’s Wound by Caravaggio, 1602.

Michael Kavan thinks we all have a little Thomas in us from time to time.

maybe it’s okay to have a little bit of Thomas in us as long as we use that doubt as a motivator to search for the physical presence of God in our lives. Maybe it’s a friendly smile, the opening of a door, a consoling word, someone forgiving us for a past wrong that, upon reflection, are really physical signs of God’s presence in our lives. And maybe it just takes us looking for God and finding Him in these acts both great and small that allow us to feel that much closer to Him. So, as we move forward with our day, let us seek out and find ways in which God is an active presence in our lives. And know that we will, at times, have doubts and that is okay for as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For we walk by faith, and not by sight.”

The post by Franciscan Media reflects on the life of St Thomas as evidence that holiness is a gift of God.

The Collect prayer for the Feast of St Thomas is from the Catholic Culture website where more information about the missionary work of this Apostle can be found.

Grant, almighty God, that we may glory in the Feast of the blessed Apostle Thomas, so that we may always be sustained by his intercession and, believing, may have life in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, whom Thomas acknowledged as the Lord. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Don Schwager quotes Gregory the Great (540-604 AD), on Touching the wounds of Christ and healing the wounds of our unbelief.

"It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the other disciples. For the touch by which he is brought to believe confirms our minds in belief, beyond all question." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Ephesians 2:19-22 asks who are the “members of the household of God” whose DNA has been passed on and influenced us (Ephesians 2:19)?

Your “natural” DNA may make it easy or hard for you to believe. You may be a trusting soul, or you may tend toward skepticism. You may be meek or bold, flexible or stubborn. It doesn’t matter. You are a spiritual descendant of all the saints: the doubting Thomas, the blustery Peter, the anguished Mary Magdalene, and the overly zealous Paul. Whoever you take after, Jesus treasures you. He has a vital role for you to play in his kingdom. Because you are made in his image, he is completely committed to you.

Friar Jude Winkler shares the image of Paul that the Church is an edifice held together by Jesus on the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets. It makes absolute sense not to believe when our friend has died. Friar Jude notes that Thomas represents those who have struggled with a question of trust where we have to take a leap.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on his spiritual father, St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), who was a nonviolent and “soft” prophet—keeping God free for people and people free for God—during a pivotal period when Western civilization was moving into rationality, consumerism, and nonstop war.

To be a contemplative means to look at reality with much wider eyes than mere usability, functionality, or self-interest; it is to experience inherent enjoyment for a thing in itself, as itself, and even by itself. An act of love is its own reward and needs nothing in return. This demands that we learn to love the stranger at the gate, the one outside of our comfort zone, who cannot repay us and so we can be repaid by God (see Luke 14:14). Do you realize how revolutionary that is? It is what Charles Eisenstein means by a “gift economy,” and yet most do not realize he is merely repeating what Jesus already taught but has never been seriously considered by most Christians. [2]

The struggle to build faith is assisted by contemplation of the lives and teaching of people like St. Thomas and St Francis who have found their mission to bring Life to others in their intimate relationship with Jesus.

References


(n.d.). Ephesians, chapter 2 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/2

(n.d.). John 20:19. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/john20.htm

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved July 3, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

(2018, July 3). Feast of St. Thomas, apostle - July 03, 2018 - Liturgical Calendar .... Retrieved July 3, 2018, from https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-07-03

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). 13th Week in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved July 3, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 3, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/