SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER ‘Doubt no longer but believe’
The story of Thomas in today’s gospel reminds us that the journey to Easter faith was difficult even for the first disciples of Jesus. He doubted. Doubt is not a negative quality. It is actually the beginning of wisdom. ‘There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds’, according to celebrated English poet of the nineteenth century, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and the renowned French philosopher of the twelfth century Peter Abelard offered a similar insightful reflection: ‘It is by doubting that we come to investigate and by investigating that we recognise the truth’. Healthy questioning leads to a healthy faith, a faith that does not provide all the answers, but which does provide us with enough light to live with the darkness; enough joy to live with the sorrow; enough certainty to live with the doubts. ‘One who does not ask questions’ according to Pope Francis ‘cannot progress either in knowledge or in faith’. When Thomas finally made the journey from doubt to faith his commitment was total and to the end. As we reflect on his honest struggle, we might dare to make our own the daily prayer of Auschwitz survivor, Elie Wiesel: ‘I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions’.
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