Bp Bosco Puthur
Bp of Melbourne & Apostolic Visitor of New Zealand

As we celebrate on 3 July the Feast (of Dukhrana) of St. Thomas, the Apostle of India, it is opportune to reconsider the faith experience of the saint in its contemporary relevance. I hope and pray that the feast of our heavenly patron be a consolation and divine blessing to all who suffer in the time of COVID pandemic.

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken in 2006 about the “proverbial scene” of the appearance of the risen Jesus to the doubting Thomas that occurred eight days after Easter. At first Thomas asserted that he would not believe that Jesus had appeared in his absence. Pope Benedict affirms that basically, from these words, more than Thomas’ doubt, there emerges another fundamental conviction: that it is through the wounds of Jesus that we can now recognize His identity. It is the wounds of Jesus that reveals how much He loves us. “In this the Apostle is not mistaken”, affirms Pope Benedict.

Eight days later Thomas, seeing and touching the wounds of Jesus, reacts with the most splendid profession of faith in the whole of the New Testament: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn.20: 28)! St Augustine comments on this Biblical scene: Thomas “saw and touched the man, and acknowledged the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the means of what he saw and touched, he now put far away from him every doubt, and believed the other.”

Meditative words of the Church Father St. John Chrysostom on the faith experience of St Thomas are very relevant even today. “This was, therefore, a work of divine providence, that the separation of the disciple, would become a harbinger of increasing safety and surety. For if Thomas had not been absent, he would not have doubted; and, if he would not have doubted, he would not have sought strangely; and, if he would not have sought, he would not have felt; and, if he would not have felt, he would not have been convinced of the Lord and God; and, if he did not call Him Lord and God, then neither would we have been taught to hymn Him thus. For Thomas, by not being present, has led us towards the truth and later, became more confirmed regarding the faith.”

“It is by engaging in acts of mercy we will be enabled to touch the sacred wounds of Jesus and proclaim along with St Thomas the Apostle our living faith, ‘my Lord and my God’.”

The words of Jesus, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20: 29), is a big challenge today to us the sons and daughters of St. Thomas.

Pope Benedict indicates that the faith experience St. Thomas then had, is now relevant to us for at least three reasons: first, because it comforts us in our insecurity; second, because it shows us that every doubt can lead to an outcome brighter than any uncertainty; and, lastly, because the words that Jesus addressed to him remind us of the true meaning of mature faith and encourage us to persevere, despite the difficulty, along our journey of discipleship to him.

Pope Benedict further reminds us of the importance of the story of Thomas going fishing along with Peter, narrated in the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel of John. The disciples called by the Lord to be fishers of men, going back to fishing! What a drama? We shall remember Jesus’ saying about ‘one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back’. Their toil of the whole night was in vain. Early in the morning Jesus appears to them, asks them to cast their net on the right side, they do it and accordingly, catch a large number of fish, Jesus prepares meals for them, calling them little children – how hearty are the sequence of these events! Never again has Thomas looked back on his discipleship. As tradition claims, Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia, then went on to Northern India from where he finally reached Southern India and became our Father in Faith. Dukhrana is the remembrance, observance and celebration of the heroic history of that crowing martyrdom.

The words of Pope Francis on the occasion of the feast of Dukhrana in 2013 are highly relevant. We must come out of ourselves, we must take human routes if we are to discover that Jesus’ wounds are still visible today on the bodies of all our brothers and sisters who are hungry, thirsty, naked, humiliated, enslaved, imprisoned and hospitalised. Pope reminds us that it is by touching and caressing these wounds “we can adore God alive in our midst”. By literally partaking in the pains of the contemporary society, we shall be able to kiss the wounds of Jesus. Is it not by kissing the leper that Saint Francis of Assisi experienced the living God? It is by engaging in acts of mercy we will be enabled to touch the sacred wounds of Jesus and proclaim along with St. Thomas the Apostle our living faith, ‘my Lord and my God.’

During times of suffering, isolation and anxiety, some of us ask, why is this happening to me? Has not God eyes and heart? We shall then remember that it took eight days after the other disciples saw Jesus and believed in the resurrection, for St. Thomas to have such an experience. The ways of the Lord are often strange! God takes his own time to fulfil his plans. The same is true in our own situations too. When the sufferings due to the COVID Pandemic prolong indefinitely, it is natural that you and I often have such doubts about God and his ways. Let us open our eyes to see and touch the wounds of our fellow human beings. By doing so may we be able to see the sacred wounds and the holy face of the risen Jesus in his divine splendour.

Let us thank the Lord, who consoles us in our insecurities, who leads us beyond the doubts to the resplendent vista of life, and who helps us to discern and overcome the crises on the path of our discipleship and understand the true meaning of a mature faith. On this Dukhrana Feast along with St Thomas let us proclaim our faith: “my Lord and my God.”