You know, sometimes I think we don’t know what we believe until we’re called upon to explain it. Especially for those of us who are “cradle Catholics” – the ones who were baptized Catholic and have grown up in the faith all our lives. We often just accept the things the Church teaches, and never really stop to question them. And that’s okay, but it’s also okay when we’re called upon to explain our beliefs, if we have to do a little research. Because there’s always more to learn, and there is always more believing to be done!
“Do not be unbelieving, but believe” is what Jesus tells St. Thomas today. He might as well say that to all of us. Because we should never stop exploring our beliefs, never stop learning about our faith. We’ll never know it all anyway – at least not on this side of heaven. On that great day when everything is revealed, things will be different, but until then, we have to renew that call to “not be unbelieving, but believe!” Learning about our faith is a life-long, joy-filled process. Do not be unbelieving, but believe!
And so we are going to give poor Thomas the doubter a break today. Because we all need to grow in our faith, and when we do, Saint Thomas is our patron saint! And what a wonderful invitation we have from our Lord: “Do not be unbelieving, but believe!”