2020 has proven to be an extraordinary year, but not in a good way.

The threat of war with Iran, natural disasters virtually everywhere on the planet, political discourse here at home and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic have all worked to make things look quite bleak.

Even so, Deacon David Hayden of St. Paul Church in Combined Locks told parishioners that the faithful must continue to trust in the Lord.

“We must always remember that little prayer, ‘Jesus, I trust in you,’” Hayden said in a letter published in the church’s Aug. 16 bulletin.

The deacon discussed the Apostle Thomas’ need to see the risen Christ in the flesh to emphasize his point. Thomas did not believe the Good News going around Jerusalem two days after the Crucifixion... until he met the Lord himself.

“Thomas didn’t touch Jesus’ hands and side as many paintings show,” Hayden wrote. “Instead, he just said to Jesus, ‘My Lord and My God.’ It is at that point that Jesus looked at Thomas and said, ‘You believe because you have seen;’ and then Jesus looked at us, people through the ages, to you and to me, and said, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen but who believe.’”