On the calendar of the usus antiquior, December 21st marks the feast of the Apostle St Thomas. This feast was instituted in the West in the 9th century; the reason for the choice of date is unknown, but it is likely not a coincidence that nine other months have the feast of an Apostle or Evangelist within their last ten days, thus distributing them more or less evenly through the year.
The Gospel of his feast, John 20, 24-29, recounts his meeting with the Risen Christ on the eighth day after the Resurrection. The homily on this Gospel read in the Roman Breviary is taken from one preached by Pope St Gregory the Great (590-604) on Low Sunday, but nevertheless fits perfectly with the tenor of the Advent season in which St Thomas’ day is celebrated.
“Plus … nobis Thomae infidelitas ad fidem, quam fides credentium discipulorum profuit; quia dum ille ad fidem palpando reducitur, nostra mens, omni dubitatione postposita, in fide solidatur. Sic quippe discipulum Dominus post resurrectionem suam dubitare permisit, nec tamen in dubitatione deseruit; sicut ante nativitatem suam habere Mariam sponsum voluit, qui tamen ad ejus nuptias non pervenit. Nam ita factus est discipulus dubitans et palpans, testis verae resurrectionis, sicut sponsus matris fuerat custos integerrimae virginitatis.
Palpavit autem, et exclamavit: Dominus meus, et Deus meus. Dicit ei Jesus: Quia vidisti me, credidisti. Cum Paulus Apostolus dicat, Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium; profecto liquet quia fides illarum rerum argumentum est, quae apparere non possunt. Quae etenim apparent, jam fidem non habent, sed agnitionem. Dum ergo vidit Thomas, dum palpavit, cur ei dicitur: Quia vidisti me, credidisti? Sed aliud vidit, aliud credidit. A mortali quippe homine divinitas videri non potuit. Hominem ergo vidit, et Deum confessus est, dicens: Dominus meus, et Deus meus. Videndo ergo credidit, qui considerando verum hominem, hunc Deum, quem videre non poterat, exclamavit.
(St Thomas and the Risen Christ, 1640s, by the Dutch painter Matthias Stom)
Thomas’ lack of faith benefited our faith more than the faith of the disciples who believed, for while he is brought back to faith by touching (the Lord’s side), our minds are strengthened in faith, every doubt being laid aside. Indeed, the Lord permitted His disciple to doubt after His resurrection, and yet, did not abandon him in doubt, just as He willed before His birth that Mary should have a spouse, who nevertheless did not consummate their marriage. For thus did the disciple, by doubting and touching, become a witness of the truth of the Resurrection, just as His Mother’s spouse was the keeper of Her untouched virginity.
He touched, and cried out. “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said to him, “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed.” When Paul the Apostle says (Heb. 11, 1), “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of matters that do not appear”, he plainly means that faith is the evidence of things that cannot be seen. For things which are seen are not the object of faith, but of knowledge. Therefore, since Thomas saw when he touched, why is it said to him, “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed?” But he saw one thing, and believed another, for divinity cannot be seen by a mortal man. Therefore, he saw a man, and confessed Him to be God, saying ‘My Lord and my God.’ Therefore, in seeing, he believed, while, considering the true man, he acclaimed Him to be God, whom he could not see.”
