Thomas Reminds Us That We All Need To Encounter Christ

Yesterday, in the East, was "Thomas Sunday" on which we hear the story of St Thomas's doubts about the Resurrection. "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief"!

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

We can read and know everything about Christ, but at some point we need to have a personal encounter with Our Lord and experience his mercy.

Sometimes, we might be tempted to scoff at "Doubting Thomas," and to think that he is making unreasonable demands, wanting to put his finger in the side of the Risen Jesus.

We might think that he should have simply believed the words of his fellow apostles and accepted their account of Jesus' resurrection.

Yet, if we are to be honest with ourselves, we would likely be in the same position, doubting our friends' word that our Master was dead but is now living again. We may know all the facts of the situation, but still doubt the veracity of it.

What we need is to encounter Jesus to know him in a more intimate way and to confirm our faith in him.

Encountering the Risen Jesus

Pope John Paul II referred to this concept in an address on World Youth Day in 2000:

In what happened to Thomas, the “school of faith” is enriched with a new element. Divine revelation, Jesus’s question and man’s response end in the disciple’s personal encounter with the living Christ, with the Risen One. This encounter is the beginning of a new relationship between each one of us and Christ, a relationship in which each of us comes to the vital realization that Christ is Lord and God; not only the Lord and God of the world and of humanity, but the Lord and God of my own individual human life. 

At some point each of us needs to have an encounter with God, so as to build a personal relationship with him. Our faith needs to jump out of the pages of the book and into our heart.

Pope John Paul II affirms this reality when speaking to the young people gathered at World Youth Day:

There is something of the Apostle Thomas in every human being. Each one is tempted by unbelief and each one asks the basic questions: Is it true that God exists? Is it true that he created the world? Is it true that the Son of God became man, died and rose from the dead? The answer comes as the person experiences God’s presence. We have to open our eyes and our heart to the light of the Holy Spirit. 

We can't let our faith remain at the intellectual level. We need to move beyond all the arguments for why Catholicism is the coolest religion and into an encounter with Jesus' presence.

This can't be manufactured and requires a particular openness on our part. God will choose the day and time of our encounter. We need to simple be open to it.

When we experience that encounter, we can then say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God."