Hunolt Sermons/Volume 12/Sermon 47
FORTY-SEVENTH SERMON
ON THE HOLY APOSTLE ST. THOMAS.
Subject.
The holy apostle St. Thomas was an active and zealous apostle in his faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Preached on the feast of St. Thomas.
Text.
" Be not faithless, but believing." (John 20:27)
Introduction.
He is indeed an unbelieving Thomas! Such is the expression in common use when we wish to speak of one who is obstinate and hard to convince; and generally St. Thomas is represented in the pulpit as having refused to believe in the truth of the resurrection of Our Lord. My dear brethren, I intend to-day to save the apostle's memory from that horrible calumny, and to show the contrary, to his undying fame. I repeat, then, without further introduction:
Plan of Discourse.
St. Thomas was an active and zealous apostle in his faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ: such is the whole subject of this panegyric. The moral lesson will follow by way of conclusion.
Great apostle, before all I must publicly acknowledge that I have never experienced more consolation, pleasure, joy, and readiness in study than I did in the preparation of this sermon; this I ascribe to thy assistance, and conclude therefrom that thou art pleased with it a conclusion that confirms me all the more in the intention that I now wish to carry out. One thing I ask of thee: give strength to my words so to move the hearts of all present that they may henceforth have a better opinion of thy faith and imitate thee better therein. The same grace I expect from the Queen of the apostles and our holy guardian angels.
Thomas the most active and zealous in the faith, and that, too, in the resurrection of Christ? How can that be? Does not the very gospel of to-day, dictated by the infallible truth, assert the contrary? What time and trouble were not required to bring Thomas at last to confess his belief in the resurrection? The other disciples all assured him that they had seen the Lord alive with their own eyes after He had risen from the tomb, and had spoken with Him; and what answer did Thomas make? We have heard it already: "But he said to them: Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And the words of my text, pronounced by Our Lord, seem also to be against my proposition: "Be not faithless, but believing." And when at last the apostle was convinced Our Lord said to him: "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed." So that we have undeniable proof that after all the other apostles had signified their belief in the resurrection of Christ Thomas alone still had his doubts. Was it not great obstinacy on his part to contradict the words of so many witnesses so worthy of credence? And still worse for him to remain a whole week in his incredulity? Nay, what presumption on his part to state boldly that he would not believe until Our Lord fulfilled certain conditions laid down by him: "Except I shall see, etc., I will not believe"? Is that the way to be active in the faith? Is it not rather being the slowest and most obstinate of all the apostles? Such, my dear brethren, is the manner in which many preachers depict the character of this glorious apostle, and condemn him of a grievous fault. I confess that formerly I, too, was of the same opinion; but now that I am better instructed in the matter I withdraw all I have said be fore, and proclaim that with other preachers I have done this apostle great wrong.
How so? Is it not true that Thomas was first unbelieving?
Yes. I cannot and dare not deny that, after the words of the
gospel which he himself spoke: " I will not believe." So that
in the beginning Thomas did not wish to believe. But what
did he not wish to believe? That Christ was risen from the
dead? The gospel says not a word to that effect, nor can such
a conclusion be drawn from it. And if the gospel says nothing
of it why should we blame the holy apostle and accuse him of
being guilty of disbelieving the resurrection of Our Lord, in spite
of the many prophecies of it he himself had heard from Christ's
own lips? This is the incredulity I dare not accuse him of, much
less can I say that he was obstinate, stiff-necked, presumptuous.
I could prove the contrary, and say that at the very time when
Thomas said straight out, " I will not believe," he had not the
least doubt of the resurrection of Christ; and I should be able
to help out my proof by plenty of testimonies from the Doctors
and Fathers of the Church, as well as by arguments drawn from
reason. Hear what St. Ambrose says, speaking of this apostle:
" He seemed to doubt, not of the resurrection of the Lord, but
of the circumstances of it." St. Augustine agrees with this
when he says: "The words: I will not believe, are those of one
who is inquiring, not denying; for when he speaks them his
wish is to be instructed and confirmed in his faith." Else
where he calls him a just man, a faithful man, a saint, even be
cause he wished to put his hand into Our Lord's side: " There
fore," says St. Augustine, " as Thomas was holy, faithful, and
just, he was eager to search after all these things, not that he
doubted, but to put aside every suspicion of disbelief." Still
clearer are the words of the holy Bishop Gaudentius, who lived
in the time of St. Ambrose: "It was an ardent desire, and not
incredulity that impelled him to say to the disciples who had
seen the Lord in his absence: Except I shall see, etc., I will not
believe. For he was most anxious to enjoy the sight of that
which he believed in his heart." Such is the opinion of those
holy Doctors and Fathers of the Church regarding the faith of
Thomas in the resurrection; and most of the other Fathers do
not contradict this opinion.
And to me it seems quite probable, and I am still more confirmed in this belief when I consider the undaunted courage of St. Thomas, a courage that could be founded only on a faith in the resurrection of Christ. Mark, my dear brethren, what the gospel says of the apostles: "Now when it was late that day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came." None of them had the courage to leave the room, much less dared they go into the street, fearing lest they should be taken by the Jews and served as their Master was. Peter and John had gone to the sepulchre a little while before; but they went in the dark night; nor did they remain long, but hastened back, and joined the others, as St. Cyril says: "My opinion is that they came back all the quicker, because they knew how angry the Jews were against the disciples of Christ; nor did they think it safe to remain at the tomb till daybreak." And where was Thomas meanwhile? The gospel says: "Thomas was not with them when Jesus came." So that he did not fear the Jews, but went out boldly and let himself be seen in public, either for the purpose of bringing food to the others, or to find out what was being said about Christ in the city; " Thomas was not with them." Now I ask: Why were the other apostles so much afraid of going out? Because they knew not how things were with them, and still doubted whether Jesus was in reality risen from the dead; so that they had no more help, assistance, or protection, such as He had given them during His life, to hope for from Him than from a dead man. And why was not Thomas afraid? Doubtless because he relied on the prophecies of Our Lord regarding the resurrection on the third day, and being assured of that, could trust confidently in the help of the Saviour, who was again truly living, and for whom he was ready to give his life if the Jews should seize him. And he had already given proof of his heroism in this respect; for when Christ wished to go to Jerusalem before His passion, all the other apostles were terrified, and tried to persuade Him not to go: " Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again?" Thomas was the only one who encouraged them to go even to death with Christ: "Thomas therefore said to his fellow-disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with Him." "These words of Thomas exhorting the disciples," says Cajetan, "area sign of great fervor and courage; he does not say: Go, but: Let us go with Jesus, that we may die with Jesus, be stoned and slain with Him." And the same fervor and courage moved him after the death of Christ to show himself boldly in the streets, and to run the danger of death for the sake of his be loved Master. He certainly would not have acted in that manner had he doubted the truth of the resurrection of Our Lord, and consequently His divinity; for he surely would not have incurred such danger for the sake of a dead man whose prophecies turned out false.
Moreover, this faith of Thomas is evident from the words which make some condemn him of obstinacy and incredulity: Except I shall see, etc. How did Thomas know that Jesus would retain the wound marks in His hands, feet, and side after He was risen from the dead? for it is not natural for a living man to have his hands and feet pierced, and his heart opened in his side. And how did he know that the wound in the side would be large enough for him to put his hand into it? The Lord had indeed foretold His disciples that He would rise again on the third day; but He said nothing to them of preserving the marks of the wounds in His body; so that Thomas must have known and understood more than the others of the resurrection of Christ, as he was so eager in insisting on putting his fingers into the place of the nails and his hand into the side of Our Lord. He must, therefore, either have received a special revelation from God, or else have spoken those words under the impulse of some prophetic spirit. So it is, says St. Peter Chrysologus: "For why should he have expressed such a desire, unless he had known from God that Our Lord would preserve the marks of the wounds as a proof of the truth of His resurrection? " And hence Thomas must have believed in that resurrection.
Finally, if Thomas had been as obstinate in denying the resurrection as some would have us believe, Our Lord would not Christ. have met him with such marks of friendship and favor. Such is the conclusion drawn by St. Gaudentius: "Surely," he says, "if Thomas were as incredulous as some say, Christ would not have deigned to appear to him after the resurrection; for it is written that He is found by those who do not tempt Him, but appears to those who have faith in Him." Or at all events, as I cannot help thinking, Our Lord would have reproved him for his unbelief, as He was wont to do with the disciples whenever they committed even lesser faults. What a severe reproof He administered to the well-meaning Peter, who tried to dissuade his beloved Master from undergoing the bitter sufferings of His passion and death! " Go behind Me, Satan, " said Our Lord, with displeasure; "thou art a scandal unto Me; because thou savor- est not the things that are of God." a James and John asked for the first seats in His kingdom, and they received the harsh reproof: " You know not what you ask." When the same two disciples asked Him to bring fire down from heaven to destroy those who refused to receive them, they were again reprimanded by Him: " Turning, He rebuked them, saying: You know not of what spirit you are." When the apostles disputed among themselves at the last supper as to which of them was the great er, Jesus at once reproached them in these words: "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them are called beneficent; but you not so. But he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is the leader, as he that serveth." In the Garden of Gethsemani the disciples were awakened by the reproof: "What! could you not watch one hour with Me?" In a word, never did Our Lord notice a fault in His disciples without correcting it. Now Thomas would certainly have been guilty of a grave one if he had denied the resurrection of Christ as obstinately as is supposed, and therefore would have merited a severe reproof; but instead of that Christ never alluded even by a word to any unbelief on his part, but rather showed him an amount of favor, condescension, and love such as He had not given to any of the others immediately after the resurrection. For Thomas sake alone, says St. Gaudentius, He appeared a second time to the disciples: " He appeared a second time to the apostles to satisfy the desire of Thomas; so that this desire was advantageous to the others as well." When the Lord found them all together He turned to Thomas at once, and in a most friendly manner said to him: "Put in thy finger hither and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand and put it into My side." Mark, says St. John Chrysostom in astonishment: "Jesus stands at his side, and without waiting to be asked by him, and without a word having been uttered on his part, Jesus Himself first satisfies his desire." This special grace, this loving intimacy He reserved for Thomas in preference to all the others; and what other conclusion can we arrive at except that Thomas was especially dear to Him? He indeed reproved the incredulity of Thomas in the words: "Be not faithless, but believing;" and again: "Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed;" but He does not say that this incredulity or this faith concerned His resurrection. Why, then, should we interpret this event so as to blame the apostle for such a grievous fault, since, as we shall see presently, we can understand the words quoted in a far different sense? It is a well-known rule that we must put the best possible interpretation on the doings of our fellow-man, and not accuse any one of wrong unless his guilt is clear and evident; but no such proof of the guilt of Thomas is furnished by the Holy Scriptures.
In what, then, did the incredulity of Thomas consist? What did he actually mean by his " I will not believe"? I answer that he did not wish to believe what the other disciples told him. And what did they say? That the Lord was risen from the dead? No; they told him something new that he had never heard of before, something that was quite unknown to him. If they had said at once: The Lord is risen, that would not have been anything new for Thomas, and he could readily have answered: You need not tell me that, for it is an undoubted truth, since the Lord Himself has often told and prophesied to us that He would rise again on the third day after His death, a day that is now long past. And what news, then, did they give him of which he had known nothing? Read the gospel, my dear brethren: "The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord." That was all. Whereupon Thomas at once replied: " Except I shall see, etc., I shall not believe." You tell me you have seen the Lord; I do not and will not believe you until I have seen Him myself. For Thomas could not believe that the disciples had really seen the Lord after His resurrection, that the Lord had then really appeared to them. There we have the whole incredulity of this apostle, as far as the Holy Scripture says anything of it. And in this sense we may easily understand the words of Christ to him: "Be not faithless, but believing." That is: Thomas, thou hast hitherto refused to believe that thy fellow-disciples have seen Me, although they all have assured thee to that effect; be not so incredulous in future, and when they all unite in telling you anything do not doubt of it again. And again: " Because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed;" that is: Thou didst not wish to believe that I have really appeared to thy fellow-disciples until thou didst see Me thyself; since thou hast now seen Me thou believest that the others have seen Me also. There is no forcing or distorting the meaning of the text in this interpretation.
Now I do not see how St. Thomas can be accused of obstinacy on account of refusing to accept the words of the disciples. For although they told him that they had seen the Lord, yet it ap- pears he had some good grounds tor not believing that to be really true. In the first place, he might have reasoned thus with himself: My fellow-disciples tell me they have seen the Lord; but I cannot trust them; they have often been deceived before in similar cases, and I have been deceived with them; perhaps this is another instance of hallucination on their part. On a former occasion we saw Christ in reality, and imagined Him to be a ghost; such was the case when we saw Him coming towards us as we were in the boat, and commenced to cry out for fear. "And they, seeing Him walking upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear." If the disciples took Him for a ghost then, it may well be the case that they have seen a ghost now and taken it for the Lord; so that, deceived by a false apparition, they have said to me: " We have seen the Lord." But lam not so easily persuaded; I must have better proofs before I believe them. Such is the manner in which Albert the Great excuses St. Thomas: He did not wish to believe them because he had seen signs of weakness in them. Men of his stamp are slow to believe, but once they have given their assent, very tenacious of their faith. For, as Chrysostom says: " It is a praiseworthy thing not to be too quick to believe what is not clearly proved."
Again, it is likely that in this instance Thomas acted as one who loves truly. For example: My dear friend, whom I love, and who, as I know, loves me in return, goes off somewhere, and says to me: In three days I will come back. Now four or five days later different mutual acquaintances come and tell me that my good friend has visited them the day before yesterday and told them how he fared on his journey. I am naturally disturbed at this, partly through jealousy and sorrow, and partly through wonderment that he did not come to see me also. What? I say; how can that be? I can hardly believe you, for certainly he would have come to see me, too. Such, perhaps, may have been the thoughts of Thomas when disturbed by the sudden announcement that the others had seen the Lord. No, he said to himself, that cannot be! Will the Lord exclude me alone from His visitation, although I love Him so truly, and have received countless proofs of love from Him? No, I cannot and will not believe it until I am certainly convinced that there is no deception in it. Such is the manner in which St. Cyril of Alexandria defends St. Thomas: " Although it seems to me that Thomas was disturbed, not so much by infidelity as by a great sorrow at not having seen the Lord with his own eyes."
In the third place, might not the words, "I will not believe," have been uttered through the influence of sudden joy and fear? Of joy, at hearing the agreeable news of Christ's appearing to His disciples after the resurrection, for he, too, hoped to see the Lord? of fear, lest the tidings might not be true? For when we hear a piece of news that is very pleasing to us, even if it is confirmed by the testimony of many good witnesses, we are wont to have all the more fear and anxiety lest it should be false the greater the joy it would cause us if it really turned out true. Hence on such occasions we are wont to say, with a mixture of joy and fear: Yes, that would be indeed good news if it were true! Ah, I can hardly believe it; I must have some better proof of it! Such is the manner in which Surius writes of the incredulity of St. Thomas: " Overcome by joy at the news, he did not believe that to have really happened which he so longed for; and hearing it, did not believe it; for the transports of an exceeding great joy make one less apt to believe what one hears."
And from this it follows that it was not out of presumption that he made the condition: Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails." For, as we have seen already, not trusting to the words of the apostles, lest they should have been deceived by a false apparition, since on a former occasion they had taken Christ Himself for a ghost, he thought to himself: The same thing might happen to me again if the Lord should appear to me, and I might think I saw, not a living being, but a ghost; therefore I will not trust my own eyes; but to be sure and certain that He has really appeared to the disciples, and that it will be really Himself whom I, too, shall see in time, I shall prove the matter with my own hands, and touch the marks of the wounds. St. Bernard seems of the opinion that it was an ardent and holy love of Jesus arid His sacred wounds that prompted Thomas to utter those words; therefore he calls him a man of ardent desires, and wishes that he, too, had bad the good fortune of touching the wounds of Christ: " Like Thomas, that man of desires, I wish to see Him altogether, and not only to touch Him, but to approach the sacred wound of His side." Thus he confirms the words of St. Gaudentius: It was an ardent desire that made him say, Except I shall see, etc., for he feared to be deprived of the sight of that which he believed in his heart, and to be denied the enjoyment of that light by which the other apostles gloried in being illumined." And I am still farther strengthened in this opinion when I consider that Christ at once accedes to this desire in a most friendly and condescending manner, without being asked to do so, and offers Thomas the wounds in His hands and side to touch. See,, my dear brethren, how we cannot hold it as absolutely certain that Thomas ever doubted the resurrection of Christ, or that he was stiff-necked or obstinate in unbelief; on the other hand, we have good reason to give him the praise of having shown himself most firm and zealous in his faith in the resurrection of Our Lord.
But suppose the opinion of those who seem to assert the contruly is true, and indeed it is not now my intention to dispute it, or to prove it erroneous; suppose that at first Thomas really doubted of the resurrection, yet I still maintain that in the faith in that mystery he was the firmest and most zealous of all. For who would deny the charitable zeal of St. Peter or St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, because the former had denied his divine Master and the latter had persecuted Christ? Generally speaking, are not they who have sinned grievously against God far more zealous in the divine service after their conversion than they who have been always innocent? as St. Gregory says: " Penitents are often more fervent than the innocent." The same I say of our holy apostle Thomas; if it be true (which I do not believe) that he vacillated in the faith, yet he acknowledged the resurrection of the Lord more quickly and unhesitatingly, more zealously and solemnly, than the other apostles. Let us consider the history of the first apparition of Christ to His apostles as it is described by St. Luke; there we shall find the whole matter explained. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary of James, and others, who had come with Jesus out of Galilee, had visited the grave, seen that Our Lord's body was not there, and having learned from the two men in shining garments that Christ was truly risen, went back again, and related all to the disciples who were gathered together. Then the two disciples came from Emmaus, and told them all that had happened to them on their journey how they had had a long conversation with Jesus, and at last recognized Him in the breaking of the bread: " Saying: The Lord is risen indeed. Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and saith to them: Peace be to you; it is I; fear not." Thus far St. Luke, as you may read in his gospel, twenty-fourth chapter. Mark that in all this Thomas was not present; otherwise the words of St. John would not be true: "Thomas was not with them when Jesus came." Nor would the disciples afterwards have told him any thing new, when speaking of the resurrection, if he had seen the Lord as well as they. Now, my dear brethren, note how the apostles behaved: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary of James were holy women, greatly esteemed by Our Lord and worthy of credence; did the apostles believe them when they said that Christ was risen? No; and they even looked on the words of the holy women as madness. "And these words seemed to them as idle tales; and they did not believe them." The two who came from Emmaus and told the apostles of the resurrection of Christ were also worthy of credence; were they believed? No; for their narration was interrupted by the arrival of Christ: " Now whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them." Now at least they will have believed? No! they indeed behold the Lord with their own eyes; they hear Him say: " It is I; " and yet they do not believe: " They, being troubled and frighted, supposed that they saw a spirit." Then, to convince them, Christ encourages them, shows them His wounds, and invites them to touch them and see for themselves that it was He in reality: "And He said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have." But still the disciples were not to be moved: " But while they yet believed not and wondered for joy." They wonder and rejoice, but will not yet believe. Until Our Lord had eaten with them and held a long discourse in which He explained the Scriptures they did not believe that He was truly risen from the dead. See what trouble it cost to persuade them. But with Thomas all that was not necessary; he had not yet seen the Lord, nor heard Him say: " It is I; " he had not yet received permission to touch the place of the wounds, but had merely heard from the apostles, who a short time before could not believe their own eyes and ears, these few words: "We have seen the Lord;" and that was what he denied. But as soon as he saw Jesus in the second apparition, and satisfied his wish to behold the wounds, he laid all doubts aside and publicly confessed the resurrection of Christ. Now, my dear brethren, you can see whether or not Thomas was quick er and more zealous in professing his faith in the resurrection than the other apostles.
And how did he make this profession? With the utmost possible solemnity: " Thomas said to Him: My Lord and my God." " His profession of faith," exclaims St. Thomas of Villanova, "is far greater than his incredulity; it could not have been made more emphatically." "For whatever the faith in Christ contains is included in that brief profession." Salmeron, considering those few words, says: " They form a most brief, but a perfect confession of the sovereign dominion of Christ, of His divinity, of His divinity and humanity, or of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Him." " He saw and touched the man," says St. Augustine, "and confessed the God whom he neither saw nor touched." A confession, the like of which for clearness and emphasis no one before him had made with regard to Our Lord. Peter, Nathanael, Martha, the centurion on Mount Calvary indeed confessed Him to be the Son of God; but Thomas was the first who called Him his God. " Thomas compensated for the guilt of his unbelief by the greatness of his profession; for he was the first who expressly confessed Christ to be the true God;" such are the words of Cajetan. " Truly," says Barradius, " it was a great privilege for Thomas to be the first to profess and proclaim the divinity of Christ."
If time permitted, my dear brethren, I should like to bring you in imagination into the wide world, and show you how zealously our apostle preached the faith in Christ as the true God really risen from the dead, and brought countless numbers to the true fold. To put the matter briefly: imagine you see the wildest's most ignorant, savage, and cruel people on earth; go in thought to those nations that live, so to speak, at the very ends of the earth to the Indians, Moors, Parthians, Persians, Medes, Hircanians, Bactrians, Abyssinians, Chinese, and others who live in far distant islands and countries, wandering about like brute beasts; and then say: These are the lands and nations that Thomas undertook to evangelize and instruct in the faith. And in fact Thomas alone brought the faith to those places; so that the author of his Life cannot understand how it was possible for a man merely to travel through so many distant lands, without speaking of remaining in them long enough to instruct their barbarous inhabitants., Yet that was done by that man, who, as Surius says, wandered about every where, "pallid in face, emaciated, bloodless, and evidently without vigor, so that he carried with him, so to speak, not a body, but a mere shadow covered with a torn and soiled garment." Methinks I hear that apostle preaching in this guise, and convincing those nations of the truth of Our Lord's resurrection in the words he could have said, and probably did say, whenever he baptized any one: See these hands of mine that have poured the waters of salvation on your head; they have had the great honor of being warmed in the open side of the Saviour who arose from the dead, and who is my true God and yours! And when absolving a sinner in the sacrament of penance: This hand that is raised over you has had the favor of touching the sacred wounds of Jesus Christ, and of being sanctified in His most sacred heart. Oh, what power these words must have had! what influence they must have exercised over the hearts of men for their conversion! St. Lawrence Justinian says that there is no counting the number of nations that Thomas brought to the faith, for he effected the conversion of countless peoples. Such, too, is the opinion of Denis the Carthusian, who says: " Vast and countless were the numbers of infidels that he converted to the faith." Who, then, can number the souls converted by him, if the nations themselves are count less? And in fact some Doctors of the Church do not hesitate to say that Thomas alone brought more to the faith than all the other apostles put together. Nor did he cease from this laborious and harassing mode of life, which brought in such rich fruit, until his heart was pierced with a lance, and he thus sealed with his blood the faith he had planted and spread.
See now, my dear brethren, how true it is that Thomas was the most active and zealous of the apostles in his faith in the resurrection of Christ. Therefore not without reason has the Catholic Church, enlightened by God, used in the office and Mass of this feast the words: Grant, Lord, we beseech Thee, that we may rejoice on the solemnity of Thy blessed apostle Thomas; to the end that we may always have the assistance of his prayers, and zealously profess the faith he taught; mark those words. Therefore this Saint is the special patron of those who have to combat temptations against faith, and who call upon him with confidence. I remember having heard one of our Fathers relating how, while he was still in the world, he heard a sermon on the obstinacy and incredulity of this apostle, and he then conceived a low opinion of him, and thought to himself: Truly he is an unworthy apostle; whereupon he was assailed by such frequent and violent temptations against faith that he was quite disturbed, and knew not what to do, till he fled to that holy apostle for help, and at once found himself completely freed from the temptations. For my part, my only advice to all who complain to me of similar assaults is to have recourse to St. Thomas with confidence in fervent prayer; and they have assured me that they experienced immediate help and relief. great apostle, I now beg of thee in my own name, in the name of all here present, stretch out over us thy powerful hand, which was consecrated in the heart and wounds of Jesus Christ, and keep us constant to the true faith; but let our faith be lively and active, that in and by it we may gain eternal life!
Christians! we should send forth this short prayer daily to the holy apostle St. Thomas; for, alas! how many infidels are there not, not only among heretics and heathens, but even in the bosom of the true Church, among those who profess to be true Christian Catholics, but whose lives and actions do not at all correspond with their profession? With the lips they say they believe in one God, whom we must love and honor above all things; with their works they adore many false gods, against the law of the true God. With the lips they profess to believe in an eternal, joyful heaven that is prepared for the good; in an eternal hell of torments appointed for the wicked; and yet they live as if all this were a mere fable. With the lips they profess to believe that Jesus Christ, the true son of God, is risen from the dead, and that they, too, will one day rise to an immortal life, and will have to appear before the tribunal of Christ to receive from Him an irrevocable sentence, either of eternal damnation among the demons, or of eternal happiness with the elect; and yet they live as if they were to die after the manner of brute beasts. In a word, they profess with the lips to believe in each and every article of the faith; and yet they continue to live on in their old t vices and sins. A dead, fruitless faith like that is of no help to
eternal life, as I have already shown in detail on another occasion. To these I say to-day: Be not faithless, but believing; believe, but live according to the truth which you profess.
Again, if it be true that St. Thomas did not believe at first in the resurrection of Christ, yet at the first word of Our Lord at once he gave adhesion to that truth. This, too, is an example for you, wicked Christians, who, after you have frequently of fended your God by grievous sin, become blinded by your evil passions, and never think of repentance and amendment, in spite of .the many inspirations you receive from the good God, in spite of the warnings given you by preachers and other servants of God to amend your evil ways an amendment that you keep put ting off from month to month, and from year to year! Ah, what are you thinking of? Do you not see clearly before your eyes the great danger in which your soul is, the danger of being hurried off by a sudden death, that may come at any moment? Ah, to these also I must cry out: Be not faithless, but believing; be not obstinate and stiff-necked in your sins! It is human to err, and to err grievously; but to persist in wickedness is diabolical. Therefore: " To-day, if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts," that you may not hereafter, through want of time, and to the eternal loss of your souls, be unable to repent when you would perhaps be willing to do so.
Finally, if it be true that St. Thomas did riot at once wish to believe in the resurrection of Christ, yet, after the first vivid illumination he received, he not only believed in it, but atoned for his former incredulity, inculpable though it was, by a more solemn profession of the faith and by a greater zeal in spreading it. A beautiful lesson and warning for you who have been sinners! It shows you how, after having laid aside the load of your sins and been fully reconciled to God, you must try to atone, by greater zeal in His service, for the insults you have offered the Divine Majesty, and how you ought to love all the more ardently the good God with your whole hearts, since at one single repentant prayer of yours He so graciously remitted your many and grievous transgressions. Thus the words of St. Gregory may be verified in you: " See how a zealous life after sin may often be come more pleasing to God than a tepid innocence." This warning is for me, my Lord and my God! I must confess be fore heaven and earth that I am bound in the strictest sense of the word to serve Thee with all possible zeal when I remember how Thou hast so patiently borne with me, a wretched sinner, in so many grievous insults I have offered Thee for year after year, and how with fatherly mercy Thou hast again received me into the number of Thy beloved children, and heaped so many graces and favors on me. Shall I not, then, love Thee? Shall I not serve Thee with all my strength and with my whole heart? Ah, if I refused to do so I should be the most ungrateful man on earth! Truly, I will love Thee, my God, and to the last moment of my life love Thee with all the greater fervor the more I have to acknowledge having offended Thee in the past; and with the help of Thy grace I will never offend Thee again. Amen.