JULY 2025

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

We celebrate the feast of St. Thomas, one of the apostles, in this  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  was interred in the cathedral of the archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. It is believed that he baptized numerous persons and built a few churches in Kerala. 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 Thomas was such that he was ever 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 disciples were afraid and cautioned Jesus about the danger he would meet there. But Thomas boldly came forward and said, “Let us go and die with him” (Jn 11/7ff).

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. As the document  Ad  Gentes,  it  says  that  the  Church  by  its  nature  is  a missionary. Therefore, we who are her members should preach the Gospel  far  and  wide  of  our  areas.  Though  we  have  excellent infrastructures, we have not preached the message of Jesus to every one. Till today the last man at the corner of our area, has not heard about message of Christ. It means that we have not done our duty and failed to accomplish the mandate of Christ. 

Invoking God’s blessings and with assurance of my prayers and cordial blessings,

Yours devotedly in Risen Lord

+L. Thomas Aquinas

Bishop of Coimbatore