Feast of St. Thomas Apostle July 3, 2024

Father Rick’s Two-Minute Homily for
Feast of St. Thomas Apostle
July 3, 2024, John 20:24-29
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070324.cfm

Never Give up.

There is something in this story of St. Thomas that gives us great comfort.

Even at our very beginning, we find Thomas doubting the Early Church, and not in some area of discipline or procedure. He doubts the central Christian message: God raised Jesus from the dead. At various times in our lives, some may doubt all sorts of things in our faith.

Even though these earliest followers were filled with the Presence of the Risen Lord, Thomas refused to believe their witness. However, they remained faithful to him despite his doubts and struggles. We know this because he was still with them a week after Jesus rose from the dead. They never gave up on Thomas.

Let us not give up hope for people who no longer practice their faith and no longer attend Mass faithfully. Who knows what they are going through and where they are in their relationship with the Lord?

Gospel Challenge:
The Lord is teaching us that, through St. Thomas’s doubts, all people have a place in Jesus’s heart. So, who is Thomas in our lives today who needs our welcome despite their doubts and struggles?

We pray for the grace to never give up on them.

Fr. Rick Pilger, IC

www.bscchurch.com