4 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”” John 20:28–29
Every Christian in Kerala knows this Sunday by its name: Puthu Njayar, New Sunday. It is the eighth day of Easter, and the Church calls it new because everything has become new: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In the ancient Church the newly baptised, who had worn white all through Easter week, laid aside their white garments on this day and took their place among the faithful; so the Syro-Malabar calendar also calls it the Sunday of the Neophytes. But for the St Thomas Christians it is above all the Sunday of their father in faith. The Gospel of the day is the Gospel of Mar Thoma, and the Church that by tradition he founded on the Malabar coast hears it as a family story. From early morning, and on the days around it, pilgrims climb the rocky hill of Malayattoor, where the tradition of the place holds that the apostle prayed, many of them carrying wooden crosses and calling on him as they climb. The climb is a confession in the body: we come to the hill of Thomas to say with him what he said in the upper room.
The Gospel begins on the evening of Easter day. “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” John's phrase ‘the Jews’ here means certain religious authorities of that time; the disciples behind the locked doors were themselves Jews, and the Church warns against reading such words as blame on the Jewish people as a whole (Catechism 597; Nostra Aetate 4). Locked doors do not keep out the Risen Lord. His first word is peace, and his first gesture is to show his wounds: “After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” He has risen in the same body that was crucified; the wounds are not erased but glorified, signs of a love stronger than death. Then he sends them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And he breathes on them, as God breathed into Adam in the beginning (Genesis 2:7): “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” On the very evening of the Resurrection the Lord gives his Church the power to forgive sins in his name. The Council of Trent saw in these words the institution of the Sacrament of Penance. The first gift of the Risen Christ is mercy: peace, wounds, the Spirit, forgiveness. That is why many keep this day as the Sunday of Divine Mercy: the mercy of God flows from the wounds of the Risen One.
Thomas was not there. When the others say, “We have seen the Lord,” he answers with the most honest sentence in the Gospel: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” This is the same Thomas who had said, when Jesus went up to Bethany, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16), and who had asked at the Last Supper, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5). He is brave, practical, and unwilling to pretend. “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.” Note that he stays with the community; his doubt does not take him away from the Church, and it is in the Church, on the eighth day, that the Lord finds him. Jesus speaks to him in his own words: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” And Thomas makes the greatest confession of faith in all the Gospels: “My Lord and my God!” He saw a man; he confessed God. Then Jesus looks beyond Thomas to us: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” In many Kerala churches, when the priest lifts up the consecrated Host and the Chalice, people whisper Thomas's words: My Lord and my God. We do not see the wounds, but we believe that the Risen Lord himself is present, truly and substantially, Body and Blood, soul and divinity. John tells us why he wrote: “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
The other readings show what the faith of Thomas builds. Isaiah sees nations streaming to God: “See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you.” A Church in India, far from Jerusalem, is one of those nations that ran. Isaiah also promises that God's word does not fail: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” The word that came to the Malabar coast has not returned empty in nearly two thousand years. In Acts we see the fruit of the Resurrection in a community: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them.” Barnabas, “son of encouragement”, sells a field and lays the money at the apostles' feet. Kerala Christian homes once kept the custom of the pidiyari, a handful of rice set aside at every cooking for the Church and the poor: small, daily, and together enough to feed a parish. And Paul sings of the Christ whom Thomas touched: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” Through him God was pleased “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” The wounds Thomas touched are the wounds through which the whole universe is reconciled to God.
Theme: “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’”
New Sunday: the peace of the Risen Lord, the Spirit given for the forgiveness of sins, the confession of Mar Thoma, and the community of one heart and soul.
“For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”” John 20:21
Apply: Name the fear that locks the door of your heart, and let the Risen Lord come through it with his peace.
“let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
“When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”” John 20:22–23
Apply: Go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this Easter season.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” Acts 4:32
Apply: Keep a modern pidiyari: set aside something small each day this season for the poor.
“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” Isaiah 49:16
“Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”” John 20:28–29
Apply: At every elevation this season, say in your heart the words of Mar Thoma.
On the eighth day the Risen Lord comes through our locked doors, shows us his wounds, breathes his Spirit and forgives our sins.
With Mar Thoma our father in faith we confess him, My Lord and my God, and we live as one heart and soul.
Take-home resolution: This Easter season, go to confession, whisper ‘My Lord and my God’ at every elevation, and keep a daily pidiyari for the poor.
Dear brothers and sisters, today is Puthu Njayar, New Sunday. Christ is risen, and everything is new. In the ancient Church the newly baptised laid aside their white garments today and took their place among the faithful. And for us, children of Mar Thoma, it is the Sunday of our father in faith. Thousands are climbing the hill of Malayattoor today to say with him: My Lord and my God.
On Easter evening the disciples were behind locked doors, afraid. Jesus came through the doors and said: “Peace be with you.” Then he showed them his hands and his side. He is risen in the same body that was nailed to the Cross. The wounds are still there, now shining with glory: the marks of a love that death could not defeat.
Then he breathed on them, as God breathed into Adam, and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.” On the night of the Resurrection the Lord gave his Church the power to forgive sins. The first gift of Easter is mercy. If you have stayed away from confession for a long time, this Easter season is your time to come home.
Thomas was not there. He said: “Unless I see the mark of the nails… I will not believe.” But notice what he did: he stayed with the community. A week later, on Sunday, he was with them, and Jesus came for him. The Lord did not scold him; he offered him his wounds. And Thomas said the greatest words in the Gospel: “My Lord and my God!” If you have doubts, do not walk away from the Church. Bring them here, on the eighth day. This is where the Lord finds Thomas.
Jesus then speaks to us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” We do not see the wounds. But when the priest lifts up the Host and the Chalice, our grandmothers taught us to whisper Thomas's words. It is not a pious habit only. It is the faith of the Church: the Risen Lord is truly here, Body and Blood.
And faith in the Risen Lord builds a community: “of one heart and soul… There was not a needy person among them.” Our grandparents kept a handful of rice for the poor at every cooking. Let us find our own pidiyari this season: something small, every day, for those in need. And let us go out as Isaiah promised: “For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace.” My Lord and my God! Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Thomas said: ‘I will not believe unless I touch Jesus' wounds.’ Then Jesus came and said: ‘Touch them, Thomas, and believe!’
Thomas said: ‘My Lord and my God!’ Mar Thoma is the apostle who, our tradition says, came to Kerala.
When the priest lifts up the Host at Qurbana, you can whisper like Thomas: ‘My Lord and my God!’
Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, you came through locked doors and stood among your frightened disciples, saying, Peace be with you. You showed them your hands and your side, you breathed on them the Holy Spirit, and you gave your Church the power to forgive sins. You did not abandon Thomas in his doubt, but came back for him on the eighth day and let him touch your wounds. With Mar Thoma, our father in faith, we confess you: My Lord and my God! Make us blessed among those who have not seen and yet believe. Make our parishes one heart and soul, with no one in need among us, and send us to the nations as the Father sent you. Through the prayers of your holy Mother, who believed without seeing, keep the Church of Mar Thoma faithful in every land. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!