TO EXPRESS A GENUINE DOUBT REQUIRES COURAGE. THOMAS HAD THE COURAGE TO EXPRESS HIS DOUBTS. Fr. Francis D’Britto in an article in Examiner, dated 30th June 2012. It is very unfair to call him the doubting Thomas. He was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. When he asked Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”(John 14 : 5) Note the word we - Thomas was speaking for the group. When Jesus was going to the place of Lazarus, it was Thomas who took the lead and boldly said, ‘Let us all go with the Teacher, so that we may die with Him.” (John 11 : 16). Thomas did say to the other disciples, Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. (John 20 : 25). If we analyse his statement, we will see that Thomas was so upset, frustrated and disappointed at missing the presence of Jesus and the fact that the other apostles told him that they had seen the Lord, it was humiliating to him. He felt taunted by the other disciples. The statement was made more by way of retaliation to the disciples rather than his unbelief in Jesus because when Jesus appears again, Thomas does not put his finger at the print of the nails, neither he puts his hand into the side of Jesus. He immediately exclaims, “My Lord and my God.” (John : 20 : 28) as if to say, Lord I am sorry for arguing thus with the apostles. The importance of Thomas can be seen when Jesus meets only 7 disciples and Thomas is named in second place after Simon Peter. (John 21 : 2) As per tradition, Saint Thomas is believed to have sailed to India in 52 AD and met the Jews there. He then went to Palayoor which was a Hindu priestly community. He established 7 churches in Kerala and while the 8th church was in progress, he was stabbed in a spear in 72 AD, in Mylapore, when he was praying. A chapel was built at the very spot of his martyrdom, which is now known as San Thome Cathedral. On 31st December 1952 AD, Pope Pius XII in a radio message, congratulated the people who kept the faith, brought by Thomas 19 centuries ago. During the St. Thomas day celebration, the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 18th December 1955 AD said that St. Thomas came to India when many of the countries in Europe had not yet become Christian and those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a longer history and higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of the European countries. St. Thomas was declared apostle of India in 1972 AD by Pope Paul VI.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 04:57:39 +0000
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