St. Thomas and O Oriens

O Dayspring,

Splendor of light everlasting,

Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness

and in the shadow of death.

Never noticed before how appropriate the O Antiphon is for the day of St. Thomas, when the Church hears that the Resurrected Lord came to enlighten the Apostle in the darkness and shadow of death. One day He will show to us His scars of victory even as He showed Thomas.

While working on a funeral sermon for tomorrow, I found this quote helpful for myself as I sit and pray because I cannot overcome or destroy the darkness I am in these days (see Weedon's devotion from 2007):

Your eyes cannot always see His goodness and mercy, but they are always
there. Wait on the Lord. Trust that He is good. Hold Him to His Word and
Promise. The whole creation, even we, groan as in the pains of childbirth
waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. Now John has been revealed. You
still groan and still wait, but you will also be revealed.

But what if you think it may not be real, that it may be a farce, that your
hope might be vain? Or that God is cruel or fake? Then rejoice that you have
such pains. For the pains of doubt come not from doubt, but from doubts struggle
against faith. You hurt and struggle because your fallen flesh is at war with
the new man in you. Your pain is evidence of faith. If all you had was doubt, it
would not hurt. It would be simply despair, not fear. So also do you rejoice in
the comforting words of the Holy Scriptures and the hymns we sing today. Men do
not create this in themselves. It is given to you by the Holy Spirit. It is the
fruit of Holy Baptism. It is your faith in action in the thick of your fallen
flesh. (from this funeral sermon by Rev. David Petersen)