Today, 31st of July, we celebrate
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
First Reading: Eph 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: 117:1bc, 2
R. (Mark 16:15)
Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness for us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Gospel Jn 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
My Aunt Carmina, who was very prayerful and devout, taught me to say “My Lord and my God” at Mass during the moment of the elevation. At the time, I don’t think I even knew there had been an apostle who doubted the Resurrection and refused to believe until he put his fingers in the nail marks and his hand in Jesus’ wounded side. And that it was he who spoke those words, falling to his knees before Jesus.
Thomas, the doubter, made a profession of faith that is at the very heart of the Catholic faith: Jesus is Lord and God. Two natures in one divine person. This year, we’re remembering the Council of Nicaea, and every time we profess our faith, we repeat the Creed that came from that first Ecumenical Council.
In Eucharistic Prayer III, we hear these words at Mass:
“You are indeed Holy, O Father, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.”
It’s true: the Sacrifice is happening every second. From east to west, from north to south. Wherever the sun rises and wherever it sets. In every meridian and latitude, there is a Catholic priest celebrating the Eucharist. That means the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is always present. His blood, once poured out, never stops being poured out… It’s a mystery that exists beyond our time and space—and yet it is fully present. God in His glory, pure joy and pure love—almost overwhelming in its intensity—is also broken and given on the Cross every time we celebrate the Eucharist. It’s beyond our understanding, but it’s real.
Let us never stop being amazed. Everything in our faith is full of wonder. We may repeat the same words, day after day, Sunday after Sunday, but let’s ask for the grace to renew the emotion and awe of Thomas when he saw and touched the Risen One. To be nourished by Him and to give thanks for the gift of His Body and Blood—which makes us brothers and sisters, which makes us Church.
Virginia Fernández Introduction
The gospel has some beautiful texts about St. Thomas. Not only the “My Lord and my God” after his doubt and hesitation to believe, but also “Let us too go and die with him,” and the question “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How could we know the way?” And the Lord’s, “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Tradition has him go as far as Persia and the Malabar region in India, where the Christians are still called “the Christians of St. Thomas.”
Opening Prayer
Our living God,
on this feast of St. Thomas we pray:
Our eyes have not seen your son Jesus Christ
and our fingers have not touched the scars of his wounds,
yet we have come together in his name.
Make our faith in him deep and lasting,
that the Spirit may breathe new life in us
and make us look with new eyes
at the world and at people,
so that we can bring them
the love and the peace and the justice
of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.
General Intercessions
– For our shepherds in the faith, that they may place the powers of healing, pardon and peace entrusted to them by Jesus in the service of the people of God and of all who seek the truth, we pray: R/ Our Lord and God, hear our prayer.
– For all who doubt and seek, whether in the Church or outside, that they may encounter the living Christ in us, we pray:
– For this and all Christian communities, that our faith in Jesus may lead us to have faith in each other’s goodness and to be united in faith, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
in these simple signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus will make himself present among us.
Yet we cannot see him with other eyes
than those of deep faith.
May he encounter us here
and let him strengthen our hesitant faith.
Make us recognize him unhesitatingly
and to say to him: “Our Lord and our God,”
now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
we thank you for Jesus, your risen Son.
He who loves us is alive.
Give us eyes of faith to see
that all that we are and do
has a meaning and purpose
and that your Son is with us and guides us
through our darkness and hesitations
to the fullness of life and joy.
Let him always stay with us
now and for ever.
Blessing
We have to be grateful to St Thomas, for thanks to his hesitation and question to see clearer, our faith is confirmed. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
