This empty misery of separation from one we love is at the heart of what we know about St. Thomas, who we commemorate today. Thomas only comes up a few times in the gospels, but the longest and most well-known is here, where he gets his name “doubting” Thomas. The day after Jesus rises from the dead, Thomas is not there with all the other disciples and misses out on meeting him. The other disciples tell Thomas what happened. He then refuses to believe that Jesus is risen unless he can be with him physically, not just see him, but touch him, touch his very wounds by which he was crucified and killed.
