Introductory Prayer:  Lord you know that my faith is weak. Strengthen my love, so that my faith will also grow stronger. 

Petition:  Lord, teach me your ways, bring me closer to you, and may I learn from the example set by the saints and all those who have gone before me, whom you love. 

Gospel: Jn 20:24-29

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 he said to them, "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." 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." 

1.  Why Didn't Thomas Believe His Companions? 

Perhaps we have the clue in the other passages. For Thomas, believing in Christ was being with Christ. He was willing to go to Bethany, towards death in Jerusalem, in order to die with him. At the Last Supper, he wanted to know the way, so he could be with him. This was Thomas' strength in that crucial moment when hearts were wavering about following Jesus back to Bethany, but it was also a weakness of Thomas' faith. Since Thomas felt that passion for being with Jesus, no amount of testimony could fill the emptiness of his life now that the Master was absent. Unless he could physically be with Christ, probing those nail marks and pierced side, he would not believe. 

You can see that Thomas was someone who took his relationship with Christ very seriously. For him, Jesus was everything. He wanted to be with Christ and after having been with him, no amount of stories of seeing him would fill that gap. 

And Jesus loved Thomas. If he loved Lazarus and let him die in order to raise him up, he loved Thomas by leaving him in the darkness of his despair to realize how empty, cold, and shallow life would be without Jesus. Jesus left Lazarus in the tomb for 4 days. He left Thomas in the tomb of despair for a whole week. What pain. What loneliness. But as well, what love! Jesus loved Thomas, and he is privileged with a personal apparition. We now hear Thomas' cry of love that has echoed through the ages. MY LORD AND MY GOD! (Cf. Catechism 448) 

2. Only Those with Faith Can See Him. 

After the Ascension, however, Thomas, like the other apostles, would only be able to see Christ through the eyes of faith. But his faith was now more mature, and he realized that authentic faith brings with it a relationship with Christ that is far more intimate than one of physical presence, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As Thomas' faith matured, so did his love. Like the other apostles he lived the rest of his life faithful to his vocation and died a martyr, fulfilling the words he spoke years before: "Let us also go to die with him. 

As we too "walk by faith, not by sight" (1 Cor 13:12), "we must turn to the witnesses of faith", of whom the Catechism speaks (read and reflect on paragraphs 164-165). Alongside the faith of Abraham, and of Mary, we can surely also reckon the faith, sustained by love, of Thomas the Apostle. 

Questionnaire: This optional questionnaire is intended to help you to examine your life, in the light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you shared with him.  

1. How much proof do I need before I believe in Christ's presence in my life? 

2. How do I handle moments of doubt? 

3. Is my faith growing stronger and more mature?