Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, April 7, 2024 / Categories: Blog, Homilies A Bout with Doubt Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B Bill was a young minister who was trying to figure out what to do with his life. He wanted to be a traveling preacher, but his most recent sermon was a flop. He needed to put food on the table, so he took a job at a small college in the mid-west. Influenced by the halls of academia, Bill started questioning the Bible’s validity and whether human intellect was the answer to all of life’s problems instead of Jesus. Bill was engaged in a heavyweight bout with doubt, just like Thomas in today’s Gospel and perhaps many of us. I think Thomas gets a bad rap. Known for millennia as “Doubting Thomas,” he’s generally viewed as the Apostle whose demand for proof demonstrated a lack of faith. But besides the fact that he wasn’t present when Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas is no different from the others. According to Mark and Luke, when the women told the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead, the disciples didn’t believe them. The disciples didn’t believe until Jesus offered himself as physical proof. So, what Thomas “demands as the conditions of his belief, tangible proof of the resurrection, is what Jesus [had already given] the disciples.”[1] What does this tell us? Doubt gets a bad rap, too. Many think that having doubts about our faith is a sin. We should have faith and never question it. Poppycock! As we know, faith is the God-given virtue by which we personally commit to God and freely assent to all that God has revealed to us.[2] But how do we get to that level of commitment and assent if we don’t consider what revelation proposes, think and pray about it, test it, and even spar with it? Jacob wrestled with God, Zechariah questioned God, and the Apostles were often confused by Jesus’ teachings. They all had doubts, but that didn’t necessarily make them sinners. We humans doubt. We know we don’t know everything. We know that not all sources of information are reliable, and we don’t like to be wrong. And when it comes to faith, we know that being wrong can have eternal consequences. That’s why so many of us seek assurances before we commit ourselves or assent to anything. And let’s face it, we Catholics adhere to some pretty challenging propositions—like the Resurrection and Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist—so we have doubts from time to time. We’re like Thomas, who wasn’t the kind of guy who’d blindly believed things he was told without thinking about them and seeking proof. Whether our doubts are friends or foes, though, depends on what we do with them. Our doubts become enemies when we do nothing about them. They coax us into spiritual laziness, then pummel us into a spiritual stupor when our guard is down. But when we confront our doubts head-on with our God-given reason, prayer, Scripture, and Church teachings, we conquer them and turn them into powerful engines of faith. Look at Thomas. Once Thomas was sure, he was all in, loudly and proudly proclaiming Jesus as his Lord and God! Thomas “wasn’t airing his doubts for the sake of mental acrobatics; he doubted in order to become sure; and when he did . . ., he attained a certainty that those who unthinkingly accept things can never reach.”[3] Thomas’s bout with doubt led to greater faith because he used his doubts to fuel his faith. Armed with the certitude of faith forged in the fire of doubt, Thomas and all the disciples cast their fears aside, left the Upper Room, and carried the message of Christ crucified and resurrected to the world. We can, too. How? First, accept that we humans have doubts. Please don’t feel guilty or embarrassed by them. Acknowledge them and address them, which leads us to number two. Ask questions and seek assurances. Unfortunately, many Catholics are poorly trained in the faith, so it’s easy for us to succumb to the jabs and uppercuts of doubt. Fortunately, there are a lot of good resources out there that can help clarify so many of our doubts. Read the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church; talk to clergy; participate in our Bible Study and spiritual development programs. I’d be happy to refer you to other sources, too, if you’re interested. Third, pray and listen for God’s response. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in the depths of our conscience. We’ll find God’s answers there. And if we’re still unsure hand it all over, and let God deal with our doubts. That’s what Bill did. Bill was still wrestling with his doubts when he received an invitation from a friend to preach at a Christian Retreat Center in California. Out of respect for his friend, he reluctantly accepted. Still struggling, so he decided to take a walk in the woods with his Bible in hand. Bill placed the Bible on a tree stump and offered his doubts, fears, and all the philosophical and theological arguments he’d considered to God in prayer. Then, the Holy Spirit stepped in. Bill fell to his knees and proclaimed his faith in the validity of Scripture. After the retreat, his friend commented that she’d never heard him preach with such conviction and authority, and 400 hundred people came to Christ that day.[4] Like Thomas, Bill’s bout with doubt proves that our doubts can lead us to even greater faith, a faith that overcomes our doubts and fears and helps us see Christ face-to-face, touch his wounds, and bear witness to him in the world. If we confront our doubts, we might even become the next Billy Graham. Readings: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31 [1] Gail R, O'Day, "The Gospel of John," New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 9, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 849. [2] Catechism of the Catholic Church 150. [3] William Barclay, The Gospel of John, vol. 2, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 322-323. [4] Will Graham, “The Tree Stump Prayer: When Billy Graham Overcame Doubt,” Billy Graham Evangelical Association (July 9, 2014), https://billygraham.org/story/the-tree-stump-prayer-where-billy-graham-overcame-doubt/. The Model to Follow Print 928 Please login or register to post comments.