Dec 21 – IV Sun of Advent / S Thomas
Description
It’s the Feast of IV Sun of Advent, 1st Class, with the color of Violet. In this episode: the meditation: “The O Antiphons: O Oriens, Final Preparation for Christmas”, today’s news from the Church: “Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix: What the Bishops Asked For on the Eve of Vatican II”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.
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Sources Used Today:
- “The O Antiphons: O Oriens” (FSSPX.news)
- “Final Preparation for Christmas” – From Advent to Epiphany
- “Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix: What the Bishops Asked For on the Eve of Vatican II” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Saint Thomas the Apostle is remembered most often for a single moment of doubt, yet that moment became the doorway to one of the strongest confessions of faith in the Gospels. Thomas appears several times in Saint John’s Gospel, always asking the question others are thinking but are afraid to voice. When Jesus proposes returning to Judea despite danger, Thomas is the one who says plainly, “Let us go also, that we may die with him.” His faith was not timid. It was honest, direct, and willing to follow even when the road looked dark.
After the Resurrection, Thomas struggled to accept what the others proclaimed. He wanted more than reports. He wanted encounter. When Christ appeared again and invited Thomas to touch his wounds, the apostle responded not with embarrassment but with awe. “My Lord and my God,” he said, offering the clearest confession of Christ’s divinity recorded in the New Testament. That cry reveals who Thomas truly was. Once convinced, he was utterly convinced. His doubt did not weaken his faith. It purified it.
Ancient tradition holds that Thomas carried the Gospel farther than any other apostle. He traveled east, preaching in Persia and eventually reaching the Malabar Coast of India. There he founded Christian communities that survive to this day as the Saint Thomas Christians. He baptized, ordained clergy, and built churches among peoples entirely new to the faith. His mission ended in martyrdom near present day Chennai, where he was killed for refusing to abandon his preaching. His relics became objects of devotion in both East and West, linking distant churches through a shared apostolic memory.
Thomas became the patron of architects, builders, and surveyors, likely because of traditions linking him to construction work during his mission. He is also invoked by those struggling with doubt, not as a warning, but as reassurance that honest questioning can lead to deeper belief. His story comforts believers who want to love Christ with their whole mind as well as their heart.
Traditions surrounding his feast emphasize faith renewed through encounter. In India, his feast is marked with solemn liturgies, processions, and readings recalling his arrival and martyrdom. In the Roman tradition, his feast on December 21 came to be associated with the turning of darkness toward light, echoing the journey of a man who moved from uncertainty to the clearest proclamation of who Christ truly is.
Saint Thomas the Apostle, who touched the wounds of Christ and believed, pray for us!
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