{"id":977,"date":"2010-09-14T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T12:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-finger-of-st-thomas\/"},"modified":"2010-09-14T12:53:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-14T12:53:00","slug":"the-finger-of-st-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-finger-of-st-thomas.html","title":{"rendered":"The Finger of St Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

So I\u2019m on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee Year in 2000, and I wanted to save money so I opted not to pay a single room supplement and find out that my room mate is an Irish bricklayer named Ian. I don\u2019t mind, but he\u2019s not too pleased. He says to me on the first night, \u201cSo you\u2019re one of those clever ones who writes books are you? Well, why am I in a room with you?\u00a0 I\u2019m just a bricklayer.\u201d He\u2019s smoking a roll your own ciggie and looking out the window for the nearest bar, so thinking fast I said, \u201cWell, Jesus was a carpenter so I reckon you\u2019re probably closer to him than I am.\u201d He gives me a Clint Eastwood squint and smile so we\u2019re friends.<\/p>\n

The thing is, Ian didn\u2019t know about doing the seven baslicas as part of a Roman pilgrimage. I did. So now he\u2019s starting to be grateful that he\u2019s lodging with a book-guy. So we go trotting off together to the Lateran, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Maggiore etc. Finally we end up at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and I tell him the story of the Empress Helena and he\u2019s agog and amazed that anybody has so much knowledge and I tell him that if I built a brick wall it would fall down so we\u2019re even.<\/p>\n

Then we enter the chapel of relics, and I\u2019m skeptical. By now I\u2019m a Catholic but the old Protestant, \u201cRelic of the True Cross sure sure. Pull the other one\u201d attitude is still lurking about. So I\u2019m looking around not really believing that this is the nail from the cross or that is the title board or this is the splinter of the true cross or that is the cross beam from the good thief\u2019s cross. Then I see Ian peering at another reliquary. \u201cLook Father!\u201d He says. (He kept calling me \u2018Father\u2019 even though I wasn\u2019t ordained at the time) \u201cLook, here\u2019s the finger bone of St Thomas!\u201d<\/p>\n

I see he believes it all. No doubts. Then I see he\u2019s weeping. Sobbing like a baby. Wiping his eyes with an old hankie. I\u2019m still detached and being all intellectual. Then he says, \u201cDon\u2019t you think we should do the Stations Father?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy sure. That\u2019s a nice idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you lead us please?\u201d<\/p>\n

So I gather a group of other pilgrims together and get my pilgrim prayer book and move out of detached curious museum mode into true Catholic pilgrim mode. Before long I\u2019m sniffling too and Ian\u2019s done me a lot of good.<\/p>\n

I start thinking about it all and realize that it was the finger bone of St Thomas that did the trick. Thomas who is known for doubting. Thomas who had to make sure. Thomas who stood back and didn\u2019t have the heart. Thomas who was also converted in the end and now it doesn\u2019t matter to me if it is really St Thomas\u2019 finger or not. I\u2019m convinced that the worth of the relic is something greater. It made me think.<\/p>\n

It opened my head, and more importantly\u2013it opened my heart.<\/p>\n

PS: Remind me to tell you the story sometime of how Ian and I managed to get into the Pope\u2019s garden and came within spitting distance of JP2<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I\u2019m on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee Year in 2000, and I wanted to save money so I opted not to pay a single room supplement and find out that my room mate is an Irish bricklayer named Ian. I don\u2019t mind, but he\u2019s not too pleased. He says to me on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Finger of St Thomas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I'm on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee Year in 2000, and I wanted to save money so I opted not to pay a single room supplement and find out that my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-finger-of-st-thomas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Finger of St Thomas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So I'm on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee Year in 2000, and I wanted to save money so I opted not to pay a single room supplement and find out that my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/09\/the-finger-of-st-thomas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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