Today is the feast of St. Thomas the apostle. A very special day for us Syro Malabar
Catholics. We also call this day Dukrana
being the day of his martyrdom according to tradition. St. Thomas came to Kerala, India in 52AD and preached and shared his life experiences
with Christ to the Hindu people at that time.
Many were baptized and became Christians. You could find more information here: http://www.ewtn.com/library/homelibr/kerala.txt
Now you know why we celebrate it with such festivities. If it wasn't for St. Thomas we would have
never acknowledged Christ. Our church
here in Chicago is named after St. Thomas and the next three days are filled
with feast day celebrations.
We had a special feast day mass at our church today. We were able to go to mass together as a
family since Sony was off from work today.
I wanted to make this feast day special at home so that it is more visual
for my very little children who cannot really understand the meaning of
celebrating a feast day yet. We read the
passage about the unbelieving Thomas from the Children’s Catholic Bible.
I made some banana fry which is a traditional snack of Kerala
(state in India) My mom made Idli (made of powdered rice) which is also a very
traditional South Indian food. I am
assuming that St. Thomas might have had these when he was in Kerala. I can only imagine the many adjustments he had
to make in order to live in a completely foreign place all for the sake of
Christ.
You can also see St. Thomas Cross which is at the top of
the traditional Kerala lamp. There are six
branches of the cross representing the appearance of God in the burning bush, while the central branch holds the cross, and the dove at the tip of the cross represents the Holy Spirit.
The two small
vessels which you see infront of the lamp are called Kindi and Para. Kindi is a type of pitcher usually found in
old houses in Kerala. Para is a
traditional measuring vessel also found in old hosues. I just added that to show the kind of vessels
used back when St. Thomas arrived in
Kerala. You can also see a wooden boat in my picture above which
resembles a traditional sport of Keralites called Vallam Kali, a traditional
boat race in Kerala.
We
ended out small feast day celebration with a prayer to St. Thomas. George couldn't wait to have some of the
banana fry.
"So Thomas,
called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, " Let us also go die with
him" John 11:16
I pray that I will
be able to grow into a stronger faith like St. Thomas, to be able to go and die
for Jesus in my day to day activities,
in taking care of children, in loving
and being submissive to my husband, respecting and caring for parents and in
the many other responsibilities God has given.
Almighty and everliving God, who strengthened your apostle
Thomas with sure and certain faith in your Son’s resurrection: Grant us so
perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God,
that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
St.
Thomas the apostle – Pray for us.
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