The apostle Thomas is very much revered in south India, particularly in the state of Kerala, where the long, long, long tradition is that Thomas actually came there and preached the Gospel, the good news of the risen Lord.  

Now, you might think that is improbable.  But consider the fact that there was a long-standing and large trading tradition between India and the Roman Empire, and that they have found Roman coins in India, and that there were  settlements of Jews in the first century there. They're still there, a large settlement dating back thousands of years.  So they revere Thomas very much.  And I think he is to be revered as one of the great apostles.  He was martyred near the city of Chennai -- we used to call it Madras -- in Mylapore, the southern part of Chennai. St. Thomas Mount is still there and still called that to this day.

And so I'm really sorry for Thomas that the Gospel today has passed his name down through history as "Doubting Thomas."  I think that's very unfair.  Just put yourself in his place.  He knows that Jesus, a man, a human being, has died.  And now his friends are telling him that they have  seen him alive.  Now, honestly, what would your reaction be?  "You've got to be kidding me?  Hey, look, it's not April Fool's Day, so give over with your jokes."  I think
it would actually be unreasonable for Thomas to have believed.  And so I'm going to re-christen him as "Reasonable Thomas." 

I've just used the words "reasonable" and "unreasonable."  And I see this Gospel today, this incident, as talking about reason and faith, science and faith.  Science deals with proven or reasonably deductible facts, things we can see, hear, touch, measure.  And from the point of view of science it is unreasonable to expect that a person who has been dead for three days is now alive.  So I think we should honor Thomas for his integrity.  He's not going to go along with the views of his friends just to be one of the crowd.  He is an independent thinker.  And I believe we should be honoring him for that, because I think that there can be really no profound, deep faith unless there
has been a lot of questioning.  Indeed, I think there must be a constant search on our behalf, a constant search by us for an understanding of the truth.

And faith will always honor and respect the findings of good science.  There are many fine scientists, brilliant scientists, who are also people of deep faith, because we're talking about two entirely different forms of knowledge.  Science can be learned.  Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  And we're dealing with two different disciplines.  But they do have one thing in common:  both science and faith have to be nourished, science by devoted
study, research and experimentation, and faith by devoted study, research and prayer. 

Now, I'm very hesitant to describe the belief of the disciples and the ultimate belief of Thomas, very hesitant to describe that as "faith" because they saw what they saw.  They touched the Risen Lord.  They had a personal experience.  Their faith was based on their own observation.  But faith, real faith, goes way beyond that. 

Our faith today does not depend on some personal revelation, of personally seeing the Lord; nor does it depend on anyone else's personal revelation or vision of the Lord.  Our faith, as I said, is a gift of the Spirit, or perhaps better to say, it is the living Spirit of God within us that is assuring us of the truth of what we believe.  And because of this we have no reason to envy Thomas actually seeing and touching the Lord.  In fact, that Risen Lord has said, "Blessed are those who have not seen but have believed."

So I think maybe we can all give ourselves a little pat on the back.  We have not seen, and yet we have believed, thanks to that gift of the Spirit, especially the Spirit that was given to us in the great sacrament of Confirmation.  And there are three of our community who are going to experience that today, that great gift of the Spirit that's going to be with them and help them to believe in the truth of God's word. 

What we do have to honor Thomas and the other disciples for is their openness, their readiness to accept the reality of their own experience. It cannot have been easy, because their experience of Jesus risen must have
contradicted everything they had ever known.  And there are many, there are many who hear, many who see, but do not accept.  They are not open to the prompting of the Spirit.  They deny the possibility of the reality of things that they cannot scientifically observe.

Faith means that we accept the possibility that there are things that are real even though we cannot scientifically observe them.  Faith is really trusting in the word of another person.  And don't we do that every day?  We trust in the word of another person.  But our Christian faith is trusting in the word of God, in the person of Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  That's the basis of our faith. 

 Now, belonging to a community of faith as we do, worshiping together as a community of faith as we are doing now, is a tremendous support for us in our faith journey.  And I invite all of us to really support these three as they make this wonderful great step in their faith journey.  We support them by our prayers and hopefully by our example. 

But ultimately a faith stance is a very personal thing. And it can be a very lonely place, and it can be a very scary place to be, especially when it contradicts the realities that we're experiencing every day.  I, for one, as I open the newspaper every day, as I look at the news on television, I, for one, am tested in my faith.  My faith is telling me that there's a loving, merciful, good and kind God.  And then what are we faced with?  Murder and mayhem.  We're faced with evil.  We're faced with anger and injustice.  And it's a huge test of our faith. 

My faith is telling me that God is a loving God, because I see Jesus, and He is the one who reveals God to me.  And the revelation of God that He makes to me is of a God who is merciful, who is just, who is loving.  But we need, all  of us, to support one another and pray that we may say, "Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief."

We are deeply consoled by the words of Peter in his first letter when he said, "Although you have never seen Him, you love Him."  And without seeing Him now, you  believe in Him.  And rejoice with inexpressible joy  touched with glory, because you are achieving faith's goal, your salvation.  Amen.  Alleluia!

(Response.)  Amen.

cml