Homily 4/8/2018

Don’t be a doubting Thomas! How many of you have heard this saying?

For those of you who have not heard it, it is a saying used to describe someone

who doubts what you say is true. For instance, when my kids were young, they

wanted me to get them a cell phone so they could talk to each other across the

house. I told them you do not need a cell phone to do that. All you need is a long

string and two soup cans. No matter how many times I insisted this will work;

they still doubted me. So I called them doubting Thomases. So, I got two soup

cans, poked a hole in the bottom of each, slipped the string into the hole, tied a

knot on each end, had one of them stay in the house and the other go about 70 feet

into the back yard with one end of the string and pull the string tight. So here is the

scene, one kid is sitting on the floor in the living room with the sliding glass door

wide open, the other is sitting on the ground next to a tree in the back yard. Each

one of them has an empty soup can with a string attached through the hole in the

center of the bottom. If you looked into the can, you could see the knot tied on the

string which kept it from popping out of the can. I told them to pull the string tight

so it made a straight line between the two of them, and had one of them to talk into

the can while the other one put the can to their ear. You could see the wonderment

on their faces as each one took turns talking into the can. They doubted it could be

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done until they experienced it themselves. That is an example of a doubting

Thomas. This saying is not new; it is almost 2000 years old. We know this

because it comes to us in the Gospel message today.

The Gospel narrative begins, On the evening of that first day of the week… It

doesn’t say on the evening of the first day of the week, but that first day, which

indicates the first day of the week after Jesus’ death. Now, what has occurred

during the day? Jesus has appeared to many around the city and in neighboring

towns. He appeared to Mary of Magdala at the tomb, and instructed her to go tell

the Apostles that he has risen and will come to them. So they have heard about the

sightings of the risen Lord showing up all over the place at the same time. After

Jesus died they scattered and eventually gathered met together in the upper room,

their pre-arranged meeting place. They were scared and were hiding because they

thought the Jewish elders and chief priests and scribes who handed Jesus over to

the authorities to be crucified where looking for them too, to hand over. Jesus

knew where they were, so this is where he came to them. Thomas had not yet

arrived, so he was not present for the first appearance. He had heard the same

stories of the risen Lord and now he is hearing it from the other Apostles, and still,

he does not believe. He says, “Unless I see…I will not believe”.

Now it is a week later when Jesus returns to them. All week, I am sure

Thomas continues to hear the story of Jesus coming to the Apostles in the upper
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room. How thick-headed he had to be to continue to not believe. I am sure the

stories wore him down to the point that when Jesus cam again the following week,

he was more readily able to accept the truth. For when Jesus appeared and asked

him to touch his hands and his side, Thomas immediately replied, My Lord and my

God! It never said he touched Jesus’ hands and side, but that Jesus said it to him.

It wasn’t until Thomas had the experience of the risen Lord himself that he truly

believed. Jesus at once admonishes Thomas and all the doubting Thomases of the

world and praises all those who believe when he says, Blessed are those who have

not seen and have believed. He is praising all those who have heard and believe.

You have heard today, my brothers and sisters, but do you believe? How

many times in our lives are we doubting Thomases? Do we doubt the truths of the

Church? There are some Catholics who find the teaching on the sanctity of life

burdensome, and are pro-choice. There are some Catholics who find the teaching

on the sanctity of the Sacrament of Matrimony, defined as a blessed union between

a man and a woman to be burdensome, and advocate for gay-marriage. There are

some Catholics who find the Sacrament of Reconciliation burdensome and feel that

God knows their sins and they do not need to go to confession and deny

themselves the chance to reconcile with God. In the letter from John, he says, For

the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments, and he continues; and his

commandments are not burdensome. Do we find his commandments

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burdensome? How often do we sin and tell ourselves it is not that big of an offense

or convince ourselves something we know is a sin is not a sin at all? How often do

we place our doubts upon God and say, how can God forgive me in my

wretchedness, a sinner? How many times do we doubt God’s mercy and grace in

our lives?

My sisters and brothers, we must offer our doubts up to God and allow his

mercy and grace to touch us. As my kids experienced that wonderment and

excitement as they heard each other’s voices through the soup can, string phone;

let the voice of the Lord in the Gospel today dispel our doubt. Come to the altar in

communion, offer up your doubt in the sacrifice of the altar and allow Jesus to take

our life of doubt and bring it to new life in trust. Experience the risen Lord, as the

Apostles did, and trust in the grace and mercy of God. If we truly believe in Him,

then we will not find his commandments burdensome, we will be well disposed to

proclaim the Gospel message in our lives, and hopefully we will be blessed

because we not have seen, but surely, we have believed.