Friends, today’s Gospel celebrates St. Thomas the Apostle. Why do we love this story of doubting Thomas so much? Perhaps because he is a saint especially suitable for our time. Modernity has been marked, from its beginning, by two great qualities: skepticism and empiricism, the very qualities we can discern in Thomas: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
And I think a good amount of skepticism and “show-me” empiricism is called for in many situations and contexts. We shouldn’t be credulous, gullible, or naïve. Sometimes it is indeed good to wipe the slate clean, to clear out old cobwebs and intellectual humbugs, perhaps especially in the area of religion. Indeed, Catholicism has a very rich intellectual tradition, a tradition of questioning, wondering, and seeking understanding.
Yet when the risen Jesus reappears, this time in the presence of Thomas, he invites the doubter to look, to see, and to touch. Then that devastating line: “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”