"He who believes shall be saved: he who believes not shall be condemned."
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 21, 2022 at 02:00AM in Meditations
"My Lord and My God".
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rocky Mount NC
"Thomas, now returned to Jerusalem, was the only one who refused to believe so many witnesses. "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails," he said, "and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side. I will not believe." Therefore, the eighth days after Easter, the Apostles, and this time Thomas with them, being gathered together in the upper chamber for prayer, and the doors being closed, Jesus stood suddenly in the midst of them, and turning to Thomas, He said, "Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side, and be not faithless, but believing." The Apostle, now convinced, fell on his knees, exclaiming, in faith and repentance, "My Lord and my God!" Then, in tones of reproof, Jesus answered him, "Because thou hast see Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed."
This, then, is the last link in the chain of evidence which attests the resurrection of our Lord, and it was, as St. Gregory remarks, for the confirmation of our faith that God permitted such marvelous unbelief. Could those who might refuse to believe the Apostles possibly refuse to accept the testimony of St. Thomas? Therefore Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, died upon the cross to expiate our sins and truly rose from the dead by His own power; therefore the Christian faith is divine and absolutely certain: therefore the Catholic Church, which brings to us this faith, is the mother of our souls and harbor of salvation.
Let us have more faith than Thomas, let us believe without seeing, the truth affirmed by the Gospel, by the holy Apostles and martyrs; let us believe, love, and adore our risen Lord.
"He who believes shall be saved: he who believes not shall be condemned."
Source: The Light of the Cross in the Twentieth Century, by the Paulist Father Volume 3, 1905
