TO?THE?EDITOR:
In Sunday’s Gospel we hear the story known in the vernacular as the "Doubting Thomas Gospel." This is the image that I, as a young Catholic boy, heard again and again both from the pulpit and in catholic schools.
I do not criticize those preachers and teachers of mine back in the 1940s and 1950s, for this was the message that they felt was important for us doubting ones to hear. But now, in what some mistakenly call the "Golden Years," I wish, now, to give a hero's prominence to the same "Thomas", whom we read of, almost as a sidelight in the story of Lazarus, which was the Gospel of a few weeks ago. Incorporated in this powerful miracle of life over death, the Apostles are trying to prevent Jesus from returning to Jerusalem for fear of Jesus' life.
And what does our doubting Thomas say to those other apostles? A very simple sentence with few words, namely, "Let us go and die with Him!!!!" A true hero's statement.
John P. Lynch
North Smithfield
