Let’s look at The
Saint for this weeks study St. Thomas The Apostle…
Saints Birth,
Life-Bio, Death, Feast Day,
Nothing is known about his birth or childhood.
His name in Aramaic (Te’oma) and Greek
(Didymos) means “twin”
John 11:16 identifies him as “Thomas called Didymus” (the twin)
John 11 also shows
us how devoted to Jesus that Thomas was…
when Jesus announced
His intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus, "Thomas" who
is called Didymus [the twin], said to his fellow disciples: "Let us
also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16)
Again it was St.
Thomas who during the discourse before the Last Supper raised an
objection: "Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou
goest; and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5)
St. Thomas is
chiefly remembered for his skepticism when the other Apostles
announced Christ's Resurrection to him:
"Except I shall see
in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the
place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not
believe" (John 20:25)
eight days afterward
Thomas made his act of faith, drawing down the rebuke of Jesus:
"Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are
they that have not seen, and have believed" (John 20:29)
At the division of
the Apostles, India fell to the lot of Thomas, but he declared his
inability to go, whereupon his Master Jesus appeared in a
supernatural way to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor, an Indian king,
and sold Thomas to him to be his slave and serve Gundafor as a
carpenter.
Then Abban and
Thomas sailed away until they came to Andrapolis, where they landed
and attended the marriage feast of the ruler's daughter. Strange
occurrences followed and Christ under the appearance of Thomas
exhorted the bride to remain a Virgin.
Coming to India
Thomas undertook to build a palace for Gundafor, but spend the money
entrusted to him on the poor. Gundafor imprisoned him; but the
Apostle escaped miraculously and Gundafor was converted.
Going about the
country to preach, Thomas met with strange adventures from dragons
and wild asses. Then he came to the city of King Misdai (Syriac
Mazdai), where he converted Tertia the wife of Misdai and Vazan his
son.
After this he was
condemned to death, led out of city to a hill, and pierced through
with spears by four soldiers.
He was buried in the
tomb of the ancient kings but his remains were afterwards removed to
the West.
He formed many
parishes and built many churches along the way to India.
St. Thomas built the
first church in India with his own hands
Stabbed with a spear
c.72 in while in prayer on a hill in Mylapur, India
buried near the site
of his death
relics later moved
to Edessa, Mesopotamia
relics moved to
Ortona, Italy in the 13th century
An old tradition
says that Thomas baptized the wise men from the Nativity into
Christianity.
His feast day is
July 3rd.
Patronage
is the patron
saint for
against blindness
against doubt
architects
blind people
builders
construction workers
Ceylon
East Indies
geometricians
India
masons
Pakistan
people in doubt
Sri Lanka
stone masons
stonecutters
surveyors
theologians
Prayer to Saint Thomas the Apostle
Dear Saint Thomas, you were once slow in believing
that Christ had gloriously risen; but later, because you had seen him, you
exclaimed: "My Lord and my God!" According to an ancient story, you
rendered most powerful assistance for constructing a church in a place
where pagan priests opposed it. Please bless architects, builds and
carpenters that through them the Lord may be honored. Amen.
Conclusions –
Interesting notes about their life or sainthood
Isn’t it interesting
how after all that St. Thomas knew about Jesus and what He expected
the apostles to do for him that it took being a prisoner & slave to
make him realize that what God wants for us is real.
Yet St. Thomas still
(at first) resisted. He doubted himself. Has this ever happened to
you? Has your faith been low? Remember that’s where faith comes in.
Ask the Holy Spirit to be with you on your journey. Get the “spiritual
fuel” you need to follow Jesus.
- From a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great (saints.sqpn.com)
“Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when
Jesus came.” He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what
had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; he
offered his side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out his
hands, and showing the scars of his wounds, healed the wound of disbelief.
Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe
that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and
heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It
was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy
arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his
master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of
Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples.
As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside
and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt
Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.
Touching Christ, he cried out: “‘My Lord and my God.’ Jesus said to him:
‘Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed.’” Paul said: “Faith
is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” It
is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what cannot be seen. What is
seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he
told: “You have believed because you have seen me?” Because what he saw
and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal
man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said:
“My Lord and my God.” Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true
man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see. What
follows is reason for great joy: “Blessed are those who have not seen and
have believed.” There is here a particular reference to ourselves. We are
included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good
works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay
only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: “They profess to know
God, but they deny him in their works.” Therefore James says: “Faith
without works is dead.”
…Always be ready to give an
explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it
with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that,
when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may
themselves be put to shame.
