Tangible faith

Today's familiar Gospel (John 20:24-29) is often referred to as the story of "doubting Thomas" (even on the day we celebrate St. Thomas the Apostle!).

Our Lord's final words to Thomas, of course, have great comfort for us.

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

But this Gospel is also a reminder of something which is natural to us as humans and which is an intrinsic aspect of our Christian faith.

Our faith is not a detached philosophy of purely otherworldly realities, emanations and auras. Our faith is not Platonism, Gnosticism, or some New Age variant.

The center of our faith begins with this most tangible yet eternal reality expressed at the beginning of this very same Gospel (1:14):

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory...

Yes, "blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," but our Christian faith has an inescapably tangible reality at its very core.

The Word became flesh...

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.

The Christian faith is in a very special way a tangible faith.

It is a reality we experience in the Sacraments.

It is also a reality we must make manifest in our own lives, as we make our faith tangible by what we do for others and for the glory of God.