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Growing in faith

December 22, 2025

Habukkuk 2:1-4|Psalm 126/ Hebrews 10:35- 11:1|John 20:24-29

Today is the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. In today’s Gospel reading, we learn about how Thomas initially refused to believe the other apostles’ accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, proclaiming he would only believe if he could physically touch Christ’s wounds. After Thomas was invited to receive such a physical proof, he profoundly exclaimed “My Lord and my God!” (John 20: 28).  Jesus responds by saying “(..) Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20: 29).

What can we learn from Thomas’ doubts and his ultimate faith?

Thomas’ quest for assurance is met by Jesus who helped strengthen his faith by transforming doubt into belief.

Honest doubt and questioning can lead to a deeper faith as part of a spiritual journey.

The theologian and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, referenced St. Thomas the Apostle’s experience when he exclaimed in his Eucharistic hymn Adoro Te Devote (in poetic English translation by Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ) “I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see, But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he (..)”, underscoring the Apostle’s journey to belief as a teaching on personal faith.

While we have no physical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection as subsequent followers of Christ, we can find comfort in Thomas’ belief and Jesus’ blessing those who believe without seeing.

Christoph Stretz

The photograph above is the summit cross on the Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany when taken during our Christmas trip in 2023.