Jul 3 – Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle
Thomas (d. 72) was ready to die with Jesus when Christ went to Jerusalem, but he is best remembered for doubting the Resurrection until allowed to touch Christ’s wounds. He preached in Parthia, Persia and India, though he was so reluctant to start the mission that he had to be taken into slavery by a merchant headed that way.
He eventually gave in to God’s will, was freed, and planted the new Church over a wide area. He formed many parishes and built many churches along the way. An old tradition says that Thomas baptised the wise men from the Nativity into Christianity.
His symbol is the builder’s square. There are several stories that explain it:
- he built a palace for King Guduphara in India
- he built the first church in India with his own hands
- it is representative of building a strong spiritual foundation as he had complete faith in Christ (though initially less in the Resurrection)
- he offered to build a palace for an Indian king that would last forever; the king gave him money, which Thomas promptly gave away to the poor; he explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth.
- Patron Saint Index
Eph 2:19-22
Jn 20:24-29
You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household.
Be wary of your thoughts, because the narrative matters. My old boss used to say that a lot, but at the time, he was talking about stocks. According to him, stocks traded based on their prevailing narratives — ‘a good story’ — and less on whether they were cheap or expensive, great companies or basket cases. It used to annoy me how often his practicality was proven right. It made me feel like my whole education in finance was for nothing!
I have found that same practical wisdom has applications beyond financial markets. The narrative we adopt for ourselves, affects how we order our behaviour, our actions and our decisions. If we think we are unworthy of God’s grace, we start behaving like we are unworthy of God’s grace. If we think we are no-hopers, our bad behaviour becomes acceptable to us. If we think we aren’t good enough, we manifest inadequacy and make it self-fulfilling. We become what we think we are, if we speak it enough. Hence, narratives matter.
In today’s gospel reading, the apostles had just suffered a terrible shock. In one weekend, their whole narrative had been dismantled. Jesus, the King of the Jews from the prophecy, had been crucified. And though some of them had encountered a resurrected Christ, most of them were still stumbling around in confusion and turmoil. The story of Thomas is the story of us. Thomas wants to believe, but he’s battling with himself. He is shaken, but still wants to count himself as one who belongs to Christ. He’s been dealt a life blow; now he’s not sure he can trust himself, or what he built his life on.
Thomas is all of us, when Life happens, when we are dealt a setback and things don’t work out as we planned. How we overcome our doubt when the narratives we construct no longer hold, to a large part, hinges on how strong our faith is. When the stories we tell ourselves fail, do we have it in us to allow God to tell our story for us? Do we have it in us, to let God take over the narrative? To believe in His deliverance, when we don’t know if there will be the happy ending we had imagined for ourselves?
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”. Blessed are we, who can give the storytelling over to God, who can lay our ego-dramas down, so God can fulfil His Theo-drama. And in truth, there is much liberation in that.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Sharon Soo)
Prayer: We pray for the grace to trust in God’s greater plan, when things do not work out as we plan. We pray for God’s protection, mercy, providence and deliverance. We pray also, for the humility to put aside our little ego-dramas, so we can participate fully in His story.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for all the people God puts in our lives – both friends and foes – who help us to fulfil our parts in His story.
OXYGEN 
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