26 April 1992
Rome, Italy

My dear Confreres,

It is St. Thomas, the Apostle, who shares the stage with the Risen Christ in today's Gospel. Of the Twelve Apostles, perhaps St. Thomas is the man who could most easily understand the mentality of so many whom we meet today. Which of us here has not met people who are honest, responsible and kind, yet who say quite frankly that they are not practicing believers. They are people who, although they may have been baptized Catholics, say that they are agnostics and are unmoved by the Church's credal formulae and its claim to be "the pillar and foundation of truth." (1 Tim 3:15).

The good agnostic--and I use the word in its popular sense--is often a generous, concerned person. Generosity and concern for the person of Jesus was a feature of St. Thomas' character. We can recall the generosity with which he offered to go along with Our Lord into Judea, into the danger of death. "Thomas...said to his fellow disciples, `Let us also go that we may die with Him." (Jn 11:16). Well-meaning agnostics will often challenge us to present the Church's teaching more convincingly and in a clearer light. It was Thomas who said to Our Lord at the Last Supper: "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" (Jn 14:5).

The agnostic features of St. Thomas stand out most clearly, however, in that statement of his recorded by St. John in today's Gospel: "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hands in His side, I will not believe." (Jn 20: 20 ). Thomas, the agnostic, became a believer and we will always be grateful to him for that magnificent expression of his surrender to believing in the divinity of Our Lord, recorded in today's Gospel: "Thomas answered Him: My Lord and my God." (Jn 20: 28).

We, who carry in earthen vessels the priceless gift of faith and who feel the urgency of our vocation to proclaim the good news of Christ to the poor, often feel almost paralyzed by the agnosticism which we encounter in the modern world. The phenomenon of the non-practicing Christian is a very ancient one in the history of Christianity. However, today we meet a new phenomenon, the non-practicing Christian who, more than in the past, will justify his situation in the name of personal independence or authenticity. (cf. Evang. Nunt. p56). The proclamation of the word of God in popular missions seems often to fall on deaf ears, or on indifferent hearts that question the relevance of our message today. We who live in Europe have heard the Pope in recent years call Catholics to commit themselves to the re-evangelization of this continent, while we are all aware of the growing number of people who are to be evangelized in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Significant also for us is the explicit reference in our Statutes to the challenge which atheism throws down to us who are called to proclaim the good news of Christ to the poor. We read: "2. - In the modern world atheism and materialism hold a challenge to the faith and to the traditional means of evangelization. Therefore, Confreres should carefully study the causes of this phenomenon, realizing that in this situation they are called upon to give witness to a strong personal faith in the living God and also to seek out new ways of fulfilling their vocation to evangelize." (Statutes, I, p2).

Important though it be to proclaim and call for greater justice for the poor, we would do well in our preaching to be equally sensitive to the present day corroding currents of atheism that menace the spiritual responses of those whom we evangelize. Perhaps you will recall the public confession which the Church made at Vatican Council II in the document on the Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes. Treating of the phenomenon of atheism, the Fathers of the Council confessed that: "Believers can have more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about instruction in the faith, or present teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal, rather than to reveal, the true nature of God and of religion." (p19).

If, as individuals or as a Congregation, we have contributed to the growth of atheism in our world, the cause must ultimately lie in our failure to take Our Lord at His word and to look to Him daily and hourly as the Way for us, the Truth for us and the Life for us. This was one of St. Vincent's most profound convictions. "Nothing pleases me," he wrote, "except in Jesus Christ." (Abelly I, p. 78) and "Jesus Christ is the Rule of the Mission." (Coste XII, Fr. ed., p. 130).

Faced with the immensity of the task of countering currents of atheism and agnosticism, of re-evangelizing continents, the question of Thomas is a very apt one: "Lord, how can we know the way?" It is a question, too, with which we priests can easily identify. Living in a new welter of questionings and opinions, witnessing the breakup of an old culture, experiencing the growth of secularism in our society, we can at times feel less sure of ourselves as we sound the trumpet call. We do well in such moments of hesitancy to pray: "Lord, how can we know the way?" Only when with Thomas we have prayed that prayer deeply and humbly, will we hear again the answer: "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life". St. Vincent's conviction on this point was deep. "If we cannot do anything of ourselves, we can do everything with God. Yes, the Mission can do everything because we have within us the seed of the omnipotence of Jesus Christ. Hence no one can excuse himself on the grounds of not being able. We will have always more strength than is necessary, especially when we will need it, because on the occasion one will feel as a new man." (Coste XI, Fr. ed., p. 204). Only then will we be able to move out confidently into the light, for if He is with us, who can be against us.