DO NOT BE UNBELIEVING, BUT BELIEVE

Et 2.19-22; Ps 116; Jn 20,24-29
3 JULY
St. Paul, a great teacher in things concerning God, reveals to us that faith is born of preaching. But it is up to the preacher of the faith to make himself credible in every word. How mght this happen? Filling his heart with the Holy Spirit and always drawing his word of faith from the heart of the Spirit of the Lord. When the Word is the bearer of the Spirit of the Lord, it penetrates the heart and enlightens it, convincing it of the truth of what has been heard. Disciple, Word and Holy Spirit must be one just as they are one thing in Christ the Lord.

But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (the) good news!” But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?” Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ (Rm 10,14-17). For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1Cor 11,23-29). Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Kephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God (that is) with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed (1Cor 15,1-11).

Jesus answers the request of Thomas. But he asks him not to be incredulous, but a believer. From this moment man is constituted the source and spring of the faith of man, the brother principle of the faith of the brother, the friend of the friend and the disciple of the disciple. This faith always obliges everyone. Who is the source of faith for others, must pay every attention so that the truth he announces is pure and without any contamination. Everyone is responsible for every impurity placed in the Word of faith.

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 he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks 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.”

If man is the source of faith for man, every disciple of Jesus every day is obliged to verify the purity of his source. The water must be very pure.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, ensure that the water of the Christian faith is always true.