I am delighted to reflect on today’s feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle.  I have chosen him as my patron saint because I can easily identify with his struggle to understand.

Thomas has two “speaking parts” in John’s Gospel.  The first is during the Final Discourse (John 14:5) when Thomas has the gumption to indicate his lack of understanding of the “way” of which Jesus was speaking, a lack of understanding probably shared by the entire group.

Today’s passage records the dramatic proclamation of faith by Thomas.  Why did Thomas doubt the eyewitness account of his fellow Apostles?  Perhaps he was still struggling with his expectations of a political and military messianic figure.  Perhaps he was in a snit about being left out of the disciples’ unrestrained joy of the previous week.

Thomas saw and touched Jesus.  What is seen gives knowledge and may/may not lead to faith.  Thomas was now seeing Jesus differently.  There was the realization that he was in the presence of the divine.  Thomas was seeing with the eyes of faith.

What about us who have not seen but have believed?  What is the basis of our belief?  It may be all those “coincidences,” the right word, the right action at the right time.  It may be all those difficult situations that we approach confidently because of the almost tangible feeling of divine accompaniment.  It may be the feeling of peace when we stop struggling and let go and allow whatever to happen.

All of the above may not be measurable nor easily explainable.  All of the above and much more are bases for our realization of the presence and working of God in our lives.  Thus we too are able to see with the eyes of faith.