Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 3, 2025
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst 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 and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Thomas’s incredulity upon hearing of Jesus’ resurrection is highly understandable. Throughout the gospel, the disciples believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, is going to bring about the kingdom in a very earthly way. When he was crucified, the apostles’ faith was shaken. Honestly, if I had been Thomas and my friends had told me Jesus had risen, I probably would not have believed, either. While Thomas likely desires to believe, he finds his experience irreconcilable with what the other apostles were telling him. No amount of insistence from his friends could have changed this.
When Jesus appears to him and says, “Peace be with you,” imagine the joy which must have filled Thomas’ heart. Though Jesus was speaking to all of the apostles, he was also speaking with each individually. “Peace be with you”—an intimate expression of peace, unity, and charity. Christ’s peace eases the tension and heals the division that arose from Thomas’s lack of trust.
In Thomas’s unbelief, Jesus invites a deeper, more personal encounter. There is no record of any of the other disciples being invited to touch Jesus after his resurrection. In fact, shortly beforehand, Jesus had even rebuked Mary Magdalene: “Do not touch me” for her desire to hold on to his presence here on earth. Thomas’s unbelief invites a more profound, intimate connection, which fills him with peace, heals the past, transforms his faith, and drives him to travel to India to evangelize.
Jesus desires to encounter us in a similar way in our unbelief. He speaks peace into our hearts, invites us to intimate communion with him, and revives our faith. Jesus invites us, through our times of unbelief, to delve deeper into the mysteries of our faith and come to know him more fully.
Prayer
Jesus, we admire your patience with the disciples, and yet you also balanced it with truth. You understood where Thomas was coming from, but at the same time gave him a challenge. You are merciful, compassionate, and fully understand our human weakness. You know our fears, the things which hold us back from trusting you and from becoming fully ourselves. But you won’t let us use those things as an excuse. There is always a challenge to grow, and with the challenge comes the grace to meet it. Thank you for caring so much about us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
As one of the twelve disciples, St. Thomas was one of the closest followers of Christ.
His humanity is on full display in the Gospel. At first, he urges his friends to follow Christ, even to death, as they approach Jerusalem, the headquarters for the enemies of Jesus. Then, when Jesus is arrested, he runs away like almost everyone else.
One night after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Lord appeared to the disciples, who were locked in the upper room. Thomas happened to be absent, and when his friends told him that they had seen Jesus, he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail-marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20: 19-29).
A week later, Jesus appeared to the group again, and this time Thomas is able to place his fingers in the very wounds of Christ. He professed his belief with the words, “My Lord and my God.”
After Pentecost, Thomas went east, evangelizing people in India. He was eventually martyred in India in the year 72. Legend holds that he was stabbed with a spear while he was praying. Thus, he holds the spear of his martyrdom in many of his depictions, including these statues on campus.
Because of all the churches he built in India, St. Thomas is the patron saint of architects and builders. The statue on the left stands on the north face of Cushing Hall of Engineering, and the other can be found on Crowley Hall, which now houses music programs but used to house science and engineering labs. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
This desire to know by touching is common to the human condition. As children, we come to know the world through touching and manipulating it. If we can feel it, we know it is real. Yet, what is most real and true about our life—that it is rooted in God—escapes our senses. Jesus says to Thomas and to us: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
St. Thomas, you believed because you saw the risen Lord, and helped others believe on faith alone—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Thomas the Apostle is in the public domain. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
