Saint Thomas the Apostle (2026)
When most people think of Saint Thomas, they think of doubt.
In fact, we know him so well by the nickname "Doubting Thomas" that it can become easy to forget why the Church celebrates him today. And yet, we do not honor Thomas because he doubted. We honor him because he became an Apostle—a witness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that is a very different thing.
After the death and burial of Jesus, the Apostles were left adrift. The One who had been their focus and point of reference through years of mission and service was gone. God had gone quiet. The darkness of Good Friday had not yet been transformed by the light of Easter.
How could they make sense of everything that had happened to Jesus?
How could they make sense of everything that had happened to them?
Then the Risen Lord stood among them. He spoke peace into their fear. And everything changed.
The darkness that had overwhelmed them began to lift. Fear gave way to hope. The silence they had experienced was broken by the presence of the Risen Christ.
But Thomas had not been there.
Should it be any wonder, then, that Thomas struggled to believe? I don't think it is fair to fault him for his hesitation. Because, most of us know what it is like to stand where Thomas stood.
There are moments when life leaves us asking questions we never expected to ask.
A diagnosis.
The death of someone we love.
A relationship that falls apart.
Violence that seems never to end.
The failures of the Church.
Our own failures.
There are moments when faith and doubt seem to live side by side within us.
Henri Nouwen once observed that Thomas, whose name Didymus means "twin," represents something within each of us. We are both believing and doubting. We all need the faith of others so that our doubt does not have the final word.
And Thomas' story does not end with doubt.
It ends with witness.
Ancient Christian tradition tells us that Thomas carried the Gospel as far as India, where Christian communities continue to trace their origins to his preaching nearly two thousand years later. The man who once asked for proof became the Apostle who proclaimed, "My Lord and my God."
That is what a witness is.
A witness is not someone who has all the answers.
A witness is someone whose life has been changed by an encounter with Jesus Christ.
Thomas did not preach an idea.
He preached a Person.
That is what is asked of us.
Most of us will never travel across continents to proclaim the Gospel as Thomas did. But every one of us is called to bear witness to Christ by the way we live. Whenever we forgive instead of seeking revenge... whenever we choose compassion over indifference... whenever we remain faithful through suffering... whenever we become instruments of peace... our lives begin to point beyond ourselves to the One whom Thomas encountered in the Upper Room.
Like Thomas, we are not asked to have all the answers.
We are simply asked to remain—to stay close to Christ, to stay within the community of faith, and to remain open to his presence.
We encounter him in the Word that is proclaimed.
We encounter him in the Sacraments we celebrate.
We encounter him in the faith of those who walk beside us.
And every genuine encounter with Christ invites us to become what Thomas became: Not simply believers...
But witnesses.
Grant, almighty God,
that we may glory in the Feast of the blessed Apostle Thomas,
so that we may always be sustained by his intercession
and, believing, may have life
in the name of Jesus Christ your Son,
whom Thomas acknowledged as the Lord.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Feast of Saint Thomas
Homily prepared for St. Pius X Parish in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
