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St. Thomas Sunday Ocala FL 4/15/2007 1. "If I do not see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe!" John 21:25 This was the answer of Thomas the Apostle to the other ten Apostles, who vainly tried to convince him, that they had seen the risen Lord. Thomas refused to accept that, which all his closest friends had witnessed. Experience though proves, that the doubting Thomases have never been absent from our society. On the glorious Day of the Resurrection, even though the doors and windows were tightly secured by the Holy Apostles for fear of their lives, the Lord suddenly appears before them, and blessing them He said: "Peace be unto you," and having said this, He showed them His Hands and His side, so that the Disciples were glad to see their Lord again, as He had promised. It so happened that Thomas was not present. One week after the Lord's appearance, once again He appears before His Apostles, even though the doors and windows were secure, and blessing them He said: "Peace be unto you." Then He says to Thomas: "Bring your finger here and feel the imprint of the nails, and bring your hand to my side, which was pierced, and do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas immediately falls to his knees, and remorsefully exclaims; "My Lord and my God," whereupon the Lord made the declaration: "Because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are they, who have not seen, yet have believed. "With this declaration, are we to believe, that the Lord condemned Thomas strictly for his disbelief? Also, are we to further understand, that God forbids any type of scrutiny, or investigation, or logic, expecting people to blindly believe? This, the Lord does not; but He condemns the manner, with which Thomas wanted to scrutinize the Event of His Resurrection! St. Thomas made the basic mistake in this matter, which unfortunately is constantly being repeated by the multitudes of followers. His mistake was, that he confined himself to the method of autopsy; --- that is, he had to personally see, and investigate to believe. His fellow Apostles could not convince him, that they had seen and spoken to the risen Lord. It truly is unbelievable that his brothers, as it were, could not make him see the light. Whether we have ever given it any thought, if we really think about it, most experiences in life, come under the category of faith, because we automatically accept these experiences as part of life. Thomas became blinded to that, which was most important to the Apostles, and subsequently to the believing world. He forgot, that so many things of life, do not come under the prism of autopsy, but are accepted, because history or tradition have bequeathed them to us. We have read or heard of Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Columbus, Washington, Lincoln and countless others, of historic immortality. We do not question that they were true persons, who excelled, and thus have been immortalized. I think that Thomas could be compared with primitive people in the remotest parts of the world, even today; --- people, who have had no contact absolutely with the outside world. If anyone of the civilized world, were to attempt to explain to them such simple things as we have them; that is, electricity, or the telephone, or the radio, or T.V., etc. chances are, that those, who would hear of these strange and unbelievable things for the first time, they would draw away from the person trying to describe them, and would consider him as suffering from some type of hallucination. However, this does not change the truth and reality. Therefore, it is basic to believe that, which others have witnessed. That is why, it can readily be stated, that all things in life are a matter of faith, or believing. In each action, and in every expression, if we were to omit faith, practically everything would crumble. Still further, Thomas made another mistake, so common to many. It was his lack of interest, or we may say indifference to actively endeavor to investigate, and establish the truth about the Risen Lord. For him it was the easy way out: "I didn't see, and therefore I do not believe!" He did not attempt to ask others, who were close to the Lord. He did not ask the women, who went to anoint the Lord at the Grave, only to find it empty. He did not go, as Peter did, to the Grave to ascertain, and find the white sheet, with which our Lord's Body was enshrouded. How much Thomas could have learned, and how easily he could have been convinced on his own, had he taken some steps to personally investigate, since he doubted what he heard from his fellow Apostles. Yes, society has too many Thomases; we see them every day. I personally have seen many, and still do. Very vivid in my mind is the manifestation of the 3 tearing Icons of the most Holy Mother in St. Paul's Cathedral in Hempstead, L.I. 47 years ago. Thousands upon thousands witnessed the tearing and firmly believed it was a Divine Sign as the Holy Patriachate declared them. Some chose to disbelieve. I heard stories of believers telling relatives and friends that tears flowed continuously for weeks from the eyes of the Theotokos, yet, they refused to believe. They never even bothered to visit St. Paul's to see for themselves, but, being imitators of Thomas, they replied: "I do not believe." I personally received in my office hundreds of people, who asked to see the Priest. One of those was a physician, of Italian descent from Akron, Ohio, who drove all night, with his aging mother to get in line to view the Icons. I felt rather foolish, after hearing his reply to my question, "did you see the tears?" He replied: "Father, I didn't come to see the tears, but as believing Catholics, my Mother and I came to venerate the Holy Icons, after reading all the continuing publicity." There and then, I received a powerful lesson of faith. The Lord does not condemn those, who investigate and truly seek to believe; but, He does condemn those, who will not believe, because they have not seen. Thomas was not faithless, but rather, he was a disbeliever, which of course is separated from faithlessness by a very fine line. The risk is, that a disbeliever can easily become faithless, and of course an unbeliever. The Lord said to Thomas: "Be not faithless, but rather be a believer", and also, "Blesed are they, who have not seen, and yet have believed." This is the type of faith, which is surely needed today. Amen. + Fr. George Papadeas
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