If I were to ask you to tell me the first thing that comes to mind when I mention India, I am sure I would get some wonderful responses. Many of us might mention Saint Mother Theresa, who spent a large part of her ministry on the streets of Calcutta in India. Some of us might think of food. Afterall, we are blessed with some great Indian restaurants in West County. Others might think of some of the Hindu temples we have seen pictures of, or perhaps even Hindu deities we have heard of.
Conversely, very few of us would probably think of India as the landing ground for an Apostolic Church. Yet, that is exactly what it is.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama successfully sailed around Africa and landed on the southwestern coast of India. What he found was the last thing he could have ever expected: a vibrant, deeply established community of Christians. They did not speak Latin. Instead, they chanted their prayers in Syriac—a dialect of Aramaic, the very language spoken by Jesus. Perhaps more astonishing, they had all seven of the Sacraments.
When asked who brought them this faith, they simply responded: Thomas.
In the year 52 AD, Thomas, the Apostle, stepped off a ship onto the shores of Muziris, of what is now the Malabar Coast of Kerala, India.
When he arrived, Thomas found a melting pot of global trade. This was a home to not only native Hindus, but also to Roman traders and migrant Jewish merchants. Naturally, Thomas began his preaching there, in the Jewish quarters, before his message rapidly rippled out into the broader Hindu population.
Tradition holds that Thomas traveled on foot along the coastal rivers, establishing seven core faith communities—likely what we would refer to as parishes today in the Roman Church.
The people who accepted his message did not abandon their culture. They formed the unique, beautiful liturgical life of the Syro-Malabaric Rite, which is comparable to the Latin Rite we celebrate in the Roman Church.
They remained thoroughly Indian in their customs, dress, and societal structures, but profoundly Christian in their devotion. To this day, their descendants are known proudly as the Saint Thomas Christians.
Thomas’s journey did not end on the peaceful western coast. Eventually, he crossed over the subcontinent to the eastern shore, arriving near modern-day Chennai.
There, the Gospel message began to clash with the local religious establishment. In the year 72 AD, while praying on a hill now known as Saint Thomas Mount, the Apostle was attacked and martyred, pierced by a spear.
He was buried nearby. Currently, the majestic San Thome Basilica stands over his burial spot.
Today, millions of Saint Thomas Christians are part of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, including the Sacred Heart mission in Hazelwood.
They continue to sing their ancient Aramaic chants, and preserve an unbroken chain of faith that stretches back to the upper room of Jerusalem.
I think it is time to let go of this image of the doubting Thomas many of us have, and remember instead his fierce, unimaginable courage. He was the skeptic who traveled further than any other Apostle to spread the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart.
Like Saint Thomas, the Apostle, let us go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
Thanks be to God!
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