His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
April 7, 2024, 11:00 AM Mass
St. Teresa Parish, Belleville
“Blessed are Those who have not Seen and have Believed”
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
If someone asks, “Do you believe that Ukraine will eventually defeat Russia?” many may respond, “I doubt it!” “Do you believe that Israel’s killing of 7 World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers was an accident?” Many would respond, “I doubt it!” “Do you believe that a cure for Alzheimer’s disease will be found in your lifetime?” You might respond, “I doubt it!” “Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead?” St. Thomas the Apostle states clearly that he doubts it.
If you wait long enough, you will learn the answers to these questions with certainty and resolve your doubt. Thomas’s doubt in John c20, v19-31 is resolved in the same way. He doubts that the risen Christ has appeared to the disciples. But Thomas waits a week, and he sees the risen Christ for himself.
When the gospel of John was written, more than 50 years after the Crucifixion, the author was clearly aware that some early Christians doubted the testimony about the “resurrection.”
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples and said, “Peace be with you.” He showed them His hands and His side. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” This is the great commissioning of the apostles, the Church, and all of us. He is sending us to proclaim the mystery of Easter by what we say and do. Then Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (Notice, John’s gospel says the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples immediately after the resurrection, not 40 days after the Ascension on Pentecost as Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles.) Then Jesus says, “Whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain are retained,” giving them the foundation for our now much-neglected sacrament of Confession. Thomas, for some unknown reason, missed all of this and refused to believe the disciples when they said, “We have seen the Lord.” “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nail marks, I will not believe!”
Thomas spends a week with the disciples, but the gospel does not tell us what he did or what he discussed with them. Did they have arguments? “Why are you saying you have seen the Lord when we know He was crucified? Why don’t you believe us? We wouldn’t say this if He had not appeared to us.” Why did Thomas stay with them if he did not believe them? Did his days with his friends open his heart to faith? Did his mind go back and forth between faith and doubt, belief and unbelief? Did the other disciples condemn or reject Thomas for his doubts, or did they support and accept him in his struggle? Did they pray together? We do not know.
The gospel does not tell us how the disciples responded to Thomas’s doubt. But we know they remained together for the week. They did not reject Thomas because he did not believe the same things they did. They accepted him. Unbelief and all.
After a week, Jesus stood in the midst of the disciples again and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “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, “My Lord and my God!” Five words: perhaps scripture’s greatest testimony of faith in Christ. Jesus challenged Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” This is the whole point of this story, which is intended to strengthen the faith of believers who have not had a dramatic encounter with the risen Christ.
There is an ancient tradition that this doubting Thomas, who became believing Thomas, traveled to India as a missionary and established Christianity there. To this day, the 2% of India’s population in the Tamil and Kerala states who are Christian call themselves the “St. Thomas Christians.” He was martyred in India and is thought to be buried in the Basilica of St. Thomas the Apostle. The July 3rd Feast of Saint Thomas is celebrated as Indian Christian Day. Abraham Verghese’s bestselling novel, The Covenant of Water, set in India, explores the lives of several generations of St. Thomas Indians. How great is the impact of St. Thomas’s faith!
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What have you been doing throughout this week that Thomas has spent waiting with the disciples? Crowds of people filled our churches on Easter Sunday; a week later they are gone. Have they moved from belief to unbelief in a week? Last week the Church proclaimed, “We have seen the risen Lord in the Christian community.” What was your response to that testimony? Have you wrestled with that faith? Some Christians have a childlike acceptance of the Bible story of the resurrection of Jesus. They simply accept it. “It’s what I was taught as a child; it must be true!” Other Christians ask hard questions that raise doubts about the resurrection. Still others reject the mystery of the resurrection altogether, saying it obviously did not happen! They are content to live by the Golden Rule. For many, the week has been filled with indifference. They have given no serious thought to or prayer about the resurrection. The week has raced by, and they have not thought about the gospel they heard on Easter Sunday. They have not discussed it with family or friends. The have not meditated on what the story of Christ’s resurrection might mean for their family members who have died, what it might mean for them when they die. They have not shared their Easter faith with a doubting coworker, neighbor, or family member. After all, this has been a very busy week at work, at home, at school. When were they supposed to have time to examine their Easter faith or share it with others?
In this post-Christian, secular, scientific-age, doubt about religious beliefs is spreading rapidly in American society. A Gallup poll’s results, released March 25th, show that only three out of ten American adults attend religious services regularly, and 31% never attend. In the past twenty years, Catholics show one of the largest declines in regular attendance, a drop from 45% in 2004 to 33% today. Gallup predicts that church attendance will almost certainly continue to decline in the future, because younger Americans have a much weaker interest in religion. These statistics imply that many of the thousands of Catholics who were baptized, confirmed, and received the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil will not be active members of the Catholic Church in 20 years. And churches like St. Teresa will gradually grow emptier and emptier in the years ahead.
In a few moments, you will be nourished by the body and Blood of the risen Lord. Are you prepared to “see” Him with eyes wide open with faith and say with St. Thomas the doubter who became St. Thomas the believer, “My Lord and my God!”
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Praised be Jesus Christ. Both now and forever. Amen.