Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

 On December 21 Holy Mother Church honors the martyr and apostle, St. Thomas.  While St. Thomas is most often recognized as "doubting Thomas," this Apostle of our Lord lived and worked tirelessly for Christ and His Church.  He was honored with the title Apostle of India.  After Pentecost, St. Thomas taught the Faith in many countries, including in Persia, in Medea, and finally in India.  Inspired by St. Thomas' holiness, love, and devotion to the Faith, the number of converts to the Church was great, which angered the king of that land.  Therefore, he ordered St. Thomas to be killed with spears, allowing the Saint to gain the crown of martyrdom. 

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The feast of St. Thomas is the last Feast the Church celebrates until the Feast of  the Birth of our Lord on Christmas Day.  The remaining days of Advent are called the Greater Ferias.  Dom Gueranger writes in The Liturgical Year,

"To none of the Apostles could this day have been so fittingly assigned as to St. Thomas. It was St. Thomas whom we needed; St. Thomas, whose festal patronage would aid us to believe and hope in that God whom we see not, and who comes to us in silence and humility... Let us pray to him with confidence. In that heaven of Light and Vision, where his repentance and love have placed him, he will intercede for us, and gain for us that docility of mind and heart, which will enable us to see and recognize Him, who is the Expected of Nations, and who, though the King of the world, will give no other signs of His majesty, than the swaddling-clothes and tears of a Babe."

"Doubting Thomas" by Caravaggio

The following prayer, also found in The Liturgical Year, is to be prayed on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle.  May we seek his intercession for an increased faith in and love of our Lord, the Infant King for whom we long.

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Prayer on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

O glorious Apostle Thomas! who didst lead to Christ so many unbelieving nations, hear now the prayers of the faithful, who beseech thee to lead them to that same Jesus, who, in five days, will have shown Himself to His Church. That we may merit to appear in His divine Presence, we need, before all other graces, the light which leads to Him. That light is Faith; then, pray that we may have Faith. 

Heretofore, our Saviour had compassion on thy weakness, and deigned to remove from thee the doubt of His having risen from the grave; pray to Him for us, that He will mercifully come to our assistance, and make Himself felt by our heart. We ask not, O holy Apostle, to see Him with the eyes of our body, but with those of our faith, for He said to thee, when He showed Himself to thee: Blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed! Of this happy number, we desire to be. 

We beseech thee, therefore, pray that we may obtain the Faith of the heart and will, that so, when we behold the divine Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in a manger, we may cry out: My Lord! and my God! Pray, O holy Apostle, for the nations thou didst evangelize, but which have fallen back again into the shades of death. May the day soon come, when the Sun of Justice will once more shine upon them. Bless the efforts of those apostolic men, who have devoted their labours and their very lives to the work of the Missions; pray that the days of darkness may be shortened, and that the countries, which were watered by thy blood, may at length see that kingdom of God established amongst them, which thou didst preach to them, and for which we also are in waiting.  Amen.

God bless!

+JMJ+