A brief history of St.Thomas - The Apostle

As we prepare ourselves for the feast of St.Thomas let us recall who he is and why do we celebrate his feast on the 3rd July of every year. 

The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle on July 3 every year. He is best known in religious accounts as “Doubting Thomas” because of his initial unwillingness to believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Catholic faithful are familiar with the Biblical story of the apostle’s later encounter with the Risen Christ, who asked him to place his finger at the mark of the nails on His pierced hands and side. St. Thomas then turned from his doubt and embraced the truth of the resurrection.

On September 27, 2006, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that Apostle Thomas’ case is important for three reasons: “First, it comforts us in our insecurity; second, it shows us that every doubt can lead to an outcome brighter than any uncertainty; and third, the words that Jesus addressed to him remind us of the true meaning of mature faith and encourage us to persevere, despite the difficulty, along our journey of adhesion to him.”

St. Thomas was one of fishermen on the Lake of Galilee who Jesus Christ called to be His Apostles. He became a dedicated follower of Christ. After the Pentecost, when the apostles went their separate ways, he set off on missionary work and, according to tradition, he preached the Good News to the Parthians, Persians, and Medes, until he reached India, where he evangelized and built with his bare hands a house of God at the Malabar coast, which today boasts of a large native population who call themselves 

St. Thomas Christians or Nasranis. After his martyrdom in 72 AD, he was buried near the site of his death, and a grand church that still stands today was built to house his tomb.St. Thomas’ relics were enshrined in Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo in Ortona, Italy, where they were venerated in the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. He is regarded as patron saint of India and patron saint of architects and builders as well.

When the feast of St. Thomas was included in the Roman calendar in the 9th century, it was assigned to December 21, the date of his martyrdom. The “Martyrology of St. Jerome” mentioned the apostle on July 3, the date to which the Roman celebration was transferred in 1969, so that it would no longer interfere with the days of Advent. July 3 was the day on which his relics were transferred from Mylapore on the coast of Chennai (Madras) in India, to the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia.

Bible verse for the day July 2nd 2014

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Nitya Sahaya Mathave - Malayalam Christian Devotional Song with Lyrics

Lyrics:

Nithya sahaya mathave loka mathave- (2)
Nithya dukhaghal than kaalvari kunnil
Shoshanna pukkal vidarthename ennum
Shoshanna pukkal vidarthename

Nithya.....

Azhalintte paazhmaru bhoomiyil nin manam
Kulir maari choriyename -- (2)
Erulintte radhamodum paathayil nin karam
Ponnoli vitharename ennum ponnoli vitharename

Nithya............

Daahichu kezhunna paithaghal njaghalil
Sneham churathunna snehamathe- (2)
Nin kaaladi puki aswasam thedunnu
Nin sthuthi geethaghal paadi ennum
Nin avadhaanaghal vaazhthi


Nithya............

Bible Verse for the day

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Bible Verse for the day

When we forget the Gospel

The gospel is a message as Christians we cannot forget. It’s a message that we need to remind ourselves of daily. Paul makes this very clear in his writings to the Corinthians.

Being prone to forget things, he wrote to them, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel . . .” (1 Cor. 15:1). Paul goes on to talk about Jesus, because they were prone to forget about him. Like the Corinthians, we fall into the same cycle of forgetfulness.

We get caught up thinking about ourselves, our family, our friends, our critics, and the people involved in our life. Thinking about so many things in our life leads us to sometimes forget about Jesus. It’s not that we don’t know of him, but that we’re forgetful of him.

We can also forget about community, as well. Paul is writing to a church, saying, “You really need to help one another, serve one another, love one another, walk with one another, because you’re not going to make it on your own. You need the people of God to go with you.”

We can also forget about Scripture. Sometimes people can go days, weeks, months, or years without actually reading the Bible—the book that God wrote. Sometimes we can get really excited about other books that have been written, maybe even decent Christian books. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if we’re reading other books at the expense of the book God wrote, then it could be.

We can also forget about Scripture. Sometimes people can go days, weeks, months, or years without actually reading the Bible—the book that God wrote. Sometimes we can get really excited about other books that have been written, maybe even decent Christian books. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if we’re reading other books at the expense of the book God wrote, then it could be.

We can also forget about Scripture. Sometimes people can go days, weeks, months, or years without actually reading the Bible—the book that God wrote. Sometimes we can get really excited about other books that have been written, maybe even decent Christian books. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if we’re reading other books at the expense of the book God wrote, then it could be.

The key to fighting forgetfulness is to always come back to what is the truth and who Jesus is. Remind yourself daily that Jesus lived for you, died for you, and rose from death for you (1 Cor. 15:3–4). He did this so that you could be forgiven of your past, present, and future sins, and experience a new life in him.