Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 3rd July, 2024
3/7 Feast of St Thomas, Apostle
FIRST READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians 2:19-22
You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations.
So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and
Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 116
Response Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
1. O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples! Response
2. Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 20: 29
Alleluia, Alleluia!
You believe, Thomas, because you can see me, says the Lord.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 20:24-29 Glory to you, O Lord.
My Lord and my God!
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’,
He answered,
‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’
Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them.
The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them.
‘Peace be with you‘ he said.
Then he spoke to Thomas,
‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’
Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to them:
‘You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection Tuesday Saint Thomas John 20:24-29
In many ways, Thomas is the representative of us all. When the disciples were full of Easter joy on that Easter evening, declaring to Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he couldn’t bring himself to believe their good news. He had been devastated once by the crucifixion of Jesus; he wasn’t going to have his hopes dashed so cruelly again by wishful thinking. Unless very clear conditions were met, Thomas defiantly declares, ‘I refuse to believe’. Thomas’ doubts speak to our own doubts. There is always some element of doubt in our faith, because, as Saint Paul says in one of his letters, ‘now we see as in a mirror dimly, then we will see face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12). It is only in eternity that we will see the Lord face to face.
In this life our seeing the Lord with the eyes of faith will always be a seeing dimly. Thomas was on a journey towards Easter faith, but he was travelling that journey at a slower pace than the other disciples. Everyone’s journey towards a deeper, fuller, faith is unique to them. When the risen Lord appeared to the disciples a week later, this time with Thomas present, there was no rebuke of Thomas for his refusal to believe the message of the other disciples. There was the same greeting from the Lord, ‘Peace by with you’, and an invitation to Thomas to doubt no longer but believe. The Lord always meets us where we are; he comes to us, as we are. Then, in response to the Lord’s greeting, out of the mouth of the sceptic came one of the greatest confessions of faith in all four gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. Scepticism and deep faith can often be found in one and the same person. On this feast of Saint Thomas, we are invited to make Thomas’ confession of faith our own, wherever we happen to find ourselves on our faith journey.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
