My dear family  in Christ,

As we continue our celebration of the Lord's resurrection, we are faced once again with the figure of St. Thomas so often referred to as "Doubting Thomas." While there is an element of truth to the moniker, we could also referto him as "practical" or "realistic" Thomas. What I mean is poor Thomas had already had his hopes crushed once with the death of Jesus, you can imagine him not wanting to be disappointed again. The old saying "once bitten, twice shy" comes to mind when thinking of St. Thomas. His pain at seeing our Lord suffer and die causes him to be less trusting and more suspicious about the claims of the other disciples.

I can appreciate his hesitancy, and I'm sure all of us can. How often in our lives have we placed our hope and trust in another person only to be left disappointed and hurt because they did not prove trustworthy or they disappointed us in some other way? When this happens we are not always eager or eager to trust them again because we don't want to be hurt again. I believe that was St. Thomas' thiking here. He loved Jesus, he believed in Jesus, he trusted in Jesus and thought Jesus was going to initiate a new age, and then all of htis was lost, or so he thought. The great news about St. Thomas though is that his love, trust and devotion were all restored with his encounter with the risen Christ.

What does this mean for us? It doesn't mean that we won't face disappointment in our lives at some point, it likely will happen. It doesn't mean that we will be able to always easily regain our trust in those who disappoint us, although hopefully we do grow in our ability to trust again. The story reminds us that God's promises never go unfulfilled, it just means we may have to be willing to believe the fulfillment may be in a slightly different manner than we expect. Thomas' hope was fulfilled and his disappointment lifted because Christ was able to show him that all that had been promised was true. It's the same for us. Chrst comes to us and reminds us that He does not disappoint or abandon, but if we have faith and persevere in trust, we will see our hopes fulfilled.

God never disappoints and He alone is sufficient for all of us. He is risen! Alleluia!

Msgr. John J. McDermott, VG