Today's Word
"My Lord and my God!"
John 20:28 Saint Thomas the Apostle
Today's Reflection
We have been unfair to Thomas.
For two thousand years we have called him Doubting Thomas, as though his doubt were his defining characteristic.
But look at what follows the doubt.
When Jesus appears and invites Thomas to touch his wounds, Thomas does not need to.
He simply sees, and says the most compressed, most perfect act of faith in the entire New Testament: "My Lord and my God."
No other disciple says it quite like that.
Not Peter, not John, not Mary Magdalene.
Thomas, the one who refused to believe without evidence, becomes the one who articulates faith most completely.
There is something here for those of us who find faith difficult.
The Church has never required us to stop asking questions.
It has never demanded that we pretend to believe what we do not.
What it asks is that we stay in the room.
That we keep showing up, even when we are uncertain, even when we have conditions, even when we need more than we have been given.
Thomas stayed. And when the moment came, he was there to receive it.
"My Lord and my God." Five words. A whole life's faith in five words.
Today's Prayer
Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
Like Thomas, I bring my doubts with me today.
I do not ask you to remove them.
I ask only that you meet me in them,
as you met him.
Amen.
Today's Call
Write down one doubt or question about your faith that you have never quite voiced.
You do not have to answer it today.
Just name it honestly.
God is not afraid of the question.