Daily Gospel for Thursday, 3 July 2014

Daily Gospel for Thursday, 3 July 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
Saint Thomas, apostle - Feast
Saints of the Day:

SAINT THOMAS

Apostle

St. Thomas was one of the fishermen on the Lake of A Galilee whom our Lord called to be his apostles. By nature slow to believe, too apt to see difficulties, and to look at the dark side of things, he had withal a most sympathetic, loving, and courageous heart.
Once when Jesus spoke of the mansions in his Father's house, St. Thomas, in his simplicity, asked: "Lord, we know not whither you go, and how can we know the way?"
When Jesus turned to go toward Bethany to the grave of Lazarus, the desponding apostle at once feared the worst for his beloved Lord, yet cried out bravely to the rest: "Let us also go and die with him"
After the Resurrection, incredulity again prevailed, and whilst the wounds of the crucifixion were imprinted vividly on his affectionate mind, he would not credit the report that Christ had indeed risen. But at the actual sight of the pierced hands and side, and the gentle rebuke of his Saviour, unbelief was gone forever; and his faith and ours has ever triumphed in the joyous utterance into which he broke: "My Lord and my God!"
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Thomas, apostle - Feast
Letter to the Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; 21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
Psalms 117:1 Praise Yahweh, all you nations!
    Extol him, all you peoples!
2 For his loving kindness is great toward us.
    Yahweh’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise Yah!
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,[John 20:29 TR adds “Thomas,”] you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”
Saint Thomas, apostle - Feast
Commentary of the Day:

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church 

Sermon 88

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed"

The disciples’ weakness was so unsteady that, not content with seeing the risen Lord, they still wanted to touch him if they were to believe in him. It wasn’t enough for them to see him with their eyes, they wanted to put out their hands to his limbs and touch the marks of his recent wounds. It was after he had touched and acknowledged his scars that the unbelieving disciple cried out: “My Lord and my God!” Those scars revealed the one who, where other people were concerned, healed every wound. Could the Lord not have risen without scars? Yet he saw within his disciples’ hearts wounds that those scars he had preserved in his body would heal.
And what does the Lord answer that confession of faith of his disciple, who says: “My Lord and my God”? “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Who is he talking about, my friends, if not of us? And not just of us but of those, too, who will follow us. For shortly afterwards, when he had disappeared from mortal sight so as to strengthen faith in the heart, all those who became believers believed without seeing and their faith had great merit. To acquire it they reached out to him, not a hand with which to touch him, but only a loving heart.
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