JULY 2026

Dear Rev. Fathers, Religious, and People of God,

We celebrate the feast of St. Thomas, one of the apostles, in the month of July. We are privileged and take pride in the fact that he preached the good tidings in our land in the first century and his body was interred in the cathedral of the archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. It was believed that he baptized numerous persons and built a few churches in Kerala. St. Thomas had full trust in his Master and that was why when all the other apostles were afraid and hid themselves in the safety of a closed room, he dared to go out. The faith of St. Thomas was so unshakable that he was ready to die for his beloved Master. When Jesus was told about the illness of Lazarus and was setting out to Bethany in Judea, the other apostles were reluctant and were afraid and cautioned Jesus about imminent danger he would meet there. But St. Thomas boldly came forward and said, “Let us go and die with him".

According to the tradition, he was martyred on 3 July in the year 72 at Little Mount in Chennai. As we are privileged to receive faith from him through the missionary activities of St. Thomas, now the responsibility is with us to proclaim the Gospel to the people across India. The Vatican council document says that the Church by its nature is a missionary. We, therefore, who are the members should preach the Gospel far and wide of our land. We have excellent infrastructures; nonetheless, it is sad to note that our message has not reached the last man in the remote corners of our nation. It clearly implies to us that we have not done our duty and failed to accomplish the mandate of Christ.

The best way to preach the Gospel is our exemplary life. In the apostolic exhortation, the pope St. Paul VI in his Evangelium Nuntiandi, says, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”. May deep faith of St. Thomas burst forth into the call, “Let us also go and die with him”.

With prayerful blessings and best wishes,

Yours devotedly in Christ,

+L. Thomas Aquinas

Bishop of Coimbatore