Is Seeing Believing?

St. Paul tells us that our lives ought to be based in faith, hope, and love ("but the greatest of these is love" [1 Cor. 13:13]).
Christmas is the Feast of FAITH (with God becoming man in the Incarnation), Good Friday is the Feast of LOVE (the greatest self-gift and sacrifice the world will ever know is Christ on the Cross), and Easter is the Feast of HOPE (sin and death are conquered forever through the Resurrection).

We know what hope is and we know what love is. But do we know what faith is?
Faith is believing without -- or in spite of -- the evidence. It is not the result of a proof, systematic logic, or a rhetorical argument. Faith is simply not something we can prove.

And that bothers some people. It bothers people like Thomas. Thomas wanted proof that Jesus was Risen. And today's Gospel [John 20:19-31] has been written for all the people who need rock-hard evidence that Jesus is God.

But I have major qualms with this. God is always radically other, radically bigger, radically MORE than our puny human minds can comprehend. As soon as we think we have God figured out, we're dead wrong. Because God is always OTHER, bigger, and more. Karl Rahner insisted that the way to faith is a "radical openness" and "a refusal to call a halt at any point." Faith is never about being secure with what we have or "know." Faith is about always going deeper because God's invitation to know, love, and serve Him never ends.

This makes sense to me because God is madly in love with each of us and desperately desires to be in an intimate love relationship with every single one of His children. So really, faith is very much about love. And for those who want proof that God exists, I would say that, in some sense, that's impossible.

Before you get too upset, let me ask you this: have you ever been in love?
If you have (or are), can you proove it?
You can't -- really. You cannot say, A + B = LOVE all the time like you can say 2 + 2 = 4 all the time. And you cannot say God exists because of this and this and this.

But, you can know you're in love because of the way your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife treats you. You can know you're in love because of how you feel when you're with him or her. Or, perhaps even more so, you can know you're in love because of how you feel when you're not with him or her. But you can't prove it. You can only really point to generous, kind, and sacrificial actions and very specific -- and yet ineffable -- feelings.

When you are in love, it's hard to explain it. That's kind of like it is with faith.

But Jesus knew that reports of His Resurrection would be questioned, contested, and very much doubted. He wanted to reassure as best He could. And yet, he still wanted to maintain our free will. So what did he do?

Jesus appeared to the disciples, who were hiding (afraid for their very lives) in a locked room. He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them to give them courage and strength to share the Good News. But Thomas wasn't there to see it, and he wanted proof. For Thomas, seeing is believing.

So Jesus returned and, as John attests,
"Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

At various points in our lives, we will doubt our faith.
Just as there will be times we will doubt the love or fidelity of ones we love.
It happens.

But the key is not to look for proof in times of doubt. Because faith is NOT about seeing is believing.
Instead, faith is: believing is seeing. Because when we look at the world through the eyes of faith, we see God everywhere!

Or, as C. S. Lewis so beautifully writes,
"I believe in God like the sun. Not because I see it, but by way of it, I see everything else."