What We Can Learn From The Doubting Thomas

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

TO be blunt about it, what we can learn from him is to realize that it is faith more than our human and natural sciences that can lead us and explain to us the full reality that are beyond our natural world and our human self.

That’s because faith has a much greater scope. It includes the spiritual and the supernatural realities which our sciences cannot fully fathom, no matter how developed they are, although they can lead us to these realities.

Our usual problem is that we rely too much on our sciences, as if they have the last word and as if they can show us the full extent of the reality of our whole life and of the whole universe. That is why on the Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle, the risen Christ told him, “Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed.” (Jn 20,29)

Of course, we have to realize also that faith is, first of all, a gift given to us by God. We need to receive it gratefully and live according to it. It is not something we make or invent. And this faith is made tangible to us because the very author of reality, God, made himself man in Christ who showed us beyond doubt that he is telling us everything we need to know to be what God wants us to be.

More than telling us everything, Christ has provided us with everything we need to reach our real goal in life, irrespective of whatever conditions we may go through in this life. As he said himself, he is “the way, the truth and the life.”

Though faith cannot be fully explained by our reason alone, there are many things—in fact, everything in this world—that would make it credible and acceptable to us. And that’s because even if we use our reason alone, we can somehow discern that everything in this world actually points us to God.

The order, beauty and complexity of the universe, including the intricate workings of nature and the human mind, can lead us to believe in a divine creator. Given the finite nature of everything, we cannot presume that things just came into existence on their own, or spontaneously. There must be a Creator who has been existing from all eternity.

We need to realize that we actually need faith. Thus, these words of some of the gospel characters should also be ours. “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9,24) “Increase our faith.” (Lk 17,5)

We can never say that we have enough faith. We should never be complacent in this regard. Faith is an ever-dynamic thing that needs to grow and grow as well as to inspire us more deeply, thoroughly and consistently.

We need to make it grow to cope with our natural needs. In this level alone, we always need faith to make things very clear for us, even if in theory we can handle the natural challenges and difficulties we can encounter in life.

We need it to deal properly with our weakness and our proneness to commit sin. We also need it most especially, because we have to pursue a supernatural goal, and not just a natural one.

That is why we need to discipline our thinking and emotions, because they tend to go on their own and leave faith behind. We have to see to it that the way we think and feel should always be infused by faith, otherwise we expose ourselves to unnecessary dangers that would lead us to fear, doubts, gloominess, etc.

            Email: roycimagala@gmail.com