The proximity of the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle to Christmas, while disapproved of and abandoned by most recent liturgical revisions, offers a profound preparation for our celebration of the Lord's Nativity. It invites us to behold the mystery of the Incarnation and how this mystery is set forth in the Church's Christological confession. And it does so in harmony with the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, following Christmas just as Saint Thomas' Day precedes Christmas. The Church's Christological confession has been fundamentally shaped by the Johannine witness. As the Gospel reading for Saint John the Evangelist's Day declares: This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24). What is this testimony? The Gospel of the feast of Saint Thomas draws us to its heart: Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrus...
Protestant Episcopalian - Burkean - clerk in holy orders