St. Thomas Sunday

……..be not faithless, but believing. (John 20:27)

Today is St. Thomas Sunday, in which we commemorate the Apostle Thomas. It was he, who because he was not present the first time Our Lord appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, that refused to believe Christ had risen from the dead unless he saw Him and touched his wounds. The Gospel today recounts how eight days later, with Thomas now present, Christ appears to them again and chastises Thomas for his unbelief. The incident forever identifies Thomas as the doubting one. Yet, it was Thomas who, when Jesus was planning to return to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead in spite of the dangers to His own life, faithfully declared “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16).

Doubt is the seed of faith. The more we struggle with doubt, the stronger our faith becomes in order to overcome it. That’s because in our hearts, in spite of our doubt, we truly want to have faith, we truly want to please God. Like Thomas, we are willing to die for Christ, and indeed we have taken on that purpose by virtue of our baptism. We must be willing to let our own will die and let the Will of God take over. Each one of us will struggle with that until our last breath, but our All-Merciful God, who knows our hearts and sees our struggles, will be with us every step of the way.

I have learned much from the experiences of the past few weeks. What looked like an overwhelming task from the outside, a newly ordained priest facing his first Pascha, was never once a source of anxiety for me. God was merciful - in spite of my doubting thoughts of “How am I going to get this done?” - He provided His servants to direct and sing in the choir, those who prepared the church for the Feast, and so many more who gave me their love and support. He gave me His peace, the peace that passes understanding, and in the end, everything went smoother that I could have ever imagined.

What a joyous and blessed Pascha we had! May our Lord grant that this same joy remain in your hearts always, and may He continue to bless our Cathedral with peace, as we endeavor to love one another, as He has commanded.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!