I suggest that this coexistence of faith and doubt in the believer can also indicate that to believe is not a totalitarian act that excludes all other possibilities, but rather an act of freedom. In Hebrews we read: Let us look to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who … is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2). We are only imperfect vessels of faith; only Jesus is its “founder and perfecter”. Authentic Christian freedom generates a way of life that is not absolutist or fanatical, but rather gentle and dialogical. Faith is not automatically exempt from doubt or further questioning, and such questioning is not necessarily and always negative if it comes from an obedient heart. Christian faith does not impose itself as an irrefutable certainty but offers itself to human choice and free response. I certainly don’t mean that faith lacks the quality of certainty, but the certainty of Christian faith is of another order than the certainty of a purely rational or scientific kind. The knowledge proper to faith is the knowledge of trust and reliance, and it has nothing in common with an insurance policy or a fool-proof system of prevention to avoid all hazards in the future. Believers are not owners of the truth, but always remain seekers of the truth, even while knowing and confessing this truth. Since the truth in question is Christ Himself, it always evades our grasp and can never be possessed as an immutable thing. This is why the distressed father of the possessed boy in Mark cried out to Jesus without contradiction: I believe; help my unbelief! (Mk 9:24).
Springtime photograph with the Abbey tower in the distance by Brother Casimir. Reflection by Father Simeon.
