His Excellency Bishop Mar Thomas Elavanal of Kalyan Diocese while addressing the faithful through his video message on Dukhrana asked them to have strong faith and powerful testimony. His Grace Bishop Mar Thomas Elavanal highlighted the significance of powerful faith experience and the importance of convincing testimony in a Christian’s life.
Mar Thomas Elavanal remarked that “On this feast of St Thomas, the apostle of India, we remember his martyrdom. So this feast is called the Feast of Dukhrana or the Feast of remembrance. St Thomas is always qualified as the doubting Thomas, the reason is when the other apostles told him that they saw the Risen Lord, then he could not believe them. He said, unless I see Him personally and put my finger in the wounds of Jesus, I will not believe. Very often, I wonder why St. Thomas could not believe the other apostles. The reason I see is that St. Thomas couldn’t notice any change in those apostles who claimed to have personally met the Risen Jesus or in the other ways, the testimony was not powerful enough to convince him, their faith experience failed to bring the doubting Thomas to faith.” Further, His Grace Bishop added, “We, as Christians believe in the resurrection of Christ and we preach this truth as the central message of the Gospel. If other people around us, who hear us, do not come to believe in the resurrection of Christ, it is often because our testimony is not powerful enough to convince them but St. Thomas after having seen and touched Jesus personally could powerfully and convincingly bear witness to Jesus. Their faith experience empowered him even to die for Jesus.”
Mar Thomas Elavanal concluded his message with a greeting, “May St. Thomas, the father of our Faith inspire us to be true followers of Christ who will bear witness to him through our words, through our deeds and our lives. I wish you all a happy feast of Dukhrana. May God bless you all!!”
